


Dream is a Blob

by Chaotomatic



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Adventure, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Dream is a blob, Gen, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, I'm not kidding, My First AO3 Post, No Smut, On hiatus for A03, TommyInnit - Freeform, Tubbo - Freeform, Wholesome, Wilbur Soot - Freeform, check my wattpad for new chapters, minecraft au, no relationships - Freeform, none of that nasty, t u b b o, wholesome content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:09:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26890426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaotomatic/pseuds/Chaotomatic
Summary: George leaves the house to take a walk after an argument with Sapnap to calm down. As he's resting by an abandoned village, he finds a small wooden box with a small blob creature inside that call himself dream. At least, according to the box, George found him in.As he's introduced to the house, George, Bad, and Sapnap find that Dream is a joy to be around, despite his strangeness. But over time, George starts to notice some...strange habits. Almost too well hidden to ignore. What is this blob's mysterious past?
Comments: 56
Kudos: 432





	1. Hello, little guy!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all like my trash! Beta readers welcome to call me out.

‘BANG!’  
George slammed the door behind him as he stormed away from the house, his face so hot with seething rage he could’ve set something on fire. Sapnap was such an idiot. He could’ve been killed. Endermen were extremely rare in the area, but extremely dangerous. Sapnap managed to hunt down and kill an Enderman, but doing so caused him to come home six hours late and covered in scrapes with only an ender pearl to show for it. George walked at a fast pace towards the spruce forests as his mind buzzed like an angry beehive in the spring. The sky was overcast but clearing up from yesterday’s rainstorm, the setting sun peering in and out of herds of clouds. The air was cool, and it blew straight through George’s blue shirt. He didn’t care though, he was too focused on being fuming mad. It wasn’t until he stopped to take a breath that he realized three things. One, he was over a mile away from home. Two, he was on the outskirts of a taiga village. Three, Sapnap’s gonna be just as pissed as George was when he gets home.  
‘Great. Just, great.’ George thinks to himself, leaning back against a tree and slowly descending to the ground. Taking off his goggles, his body suddenly felt weighted, the exhaustion catching up to him. George knows he can’t just sit there, it’s too dangerous, but he doesn’t want to get up and walk all the way back home. A gentle breeze flows by as the sun gets ready for its annual eight-hour slumber under the horizon. Taking in a deep breath, George feels more relaxed, no longer angry at his dumbass of a friend. If anything, he was starting to worry. He left an injured Sapnap alone at the house to take care of himself while George could go throw a temper tantrum. And it’s not like Bad is there to take care of him or defuse the situation, he’s visiting Skeppy for the next week. George got up with a sigh, stretching, and prepared to make the jog home.  
“Nnph!” the smallest of whimpers cried out, so small that George for a moment didn’t believe he had heard it. Was it a fox? Spinning around, George looked to see if there was a source for the small whine. Was it just in his head? “Nnnph!” George’s head snapped in the direction of the sound. ‘There must be an injured fox nearby.’ George thought to himself as he walked cautiously towards the sound. Just around a tree, there was a small wooden box with a lid, the word ‘Dream’ scribbled messily on the front. George crouched down in front of the small box, cautiously peering under the lid. Inside, there was not an injured fox, but instead a small creature of pale skin and grey shadows. It had a ghost-white round head, a blob-like almost clothy body, two beady little eyes, and a derpy smile. Despite its seemingly permanent smile, the blob looked sad and afraid, it had curled in on itself and was shaking. George couldn’t tell if it was cute or creepy as the small being shivered alone in the box. As the setting sun’s light hit the inside of the box, the creature looked up in surprise at George.  
“You poor thing.” George frowned. “How long have you been in here little guy?” George took the lid completely off the box and cautiously put his hand towards the blob. It stared blankly at his finger for a moment, before small little floating blobs that came seemingly out of nowhere, grabbing onto George’s finger like a cat. The blobs were cold, but they felt like normal human skin, despite looking nothing like the said human body part. George chuckled. “My name’s George. You wanna come home with me little buddy?” George asked. The blob’s little head nodded vigorously. George’s eyes widened, taking in a sharp breath. “You can understand me?” He asks cautiously. The blob nodded exaggeratedly once more before throwing its entire body onto George’s finger. It was then that George realized how cold the blob was, and the reason for the shivering made a lot more sense now. He was probably left out in the rain. George untied the dark blue sweater he had tied around his waist with one hand, then gently picked up the soft damp blob in his other. After Laying his sweater in the box, he laid the blob back down inside.  
“Try to warm up little fella. Let’s get you home.” He cooed to the blob, putting the lid back over the cover of the box in an attempt to keep any heat inside. Powerwalking as fast as his short tired legs could, George made his way back home just as the zombies were waking up to roam the empty fields. Opening the door as quietly as possible, George stepped inside, knowing he’d have to apologize to Sapnap as soon as possible.  
“Hey, Sapnap? I’m back…” George called out awkwardly. His entrance echoed through the small abode as George made his way to the furnace. Lighting it up with some flint, he sat in with the blob sitting on his knee in the warm glow of the fire. It was eerily quiet, the only sound being the crackle of burning coal as the inviting smell of cooked beef filled the room. It’s Sapnap’s favorite to George’s knowledge, and he still needs to make up with his best friend. It wasn’t for another minute or two before Sapnap came down the stairs. Setting the blob back in his box with an “I’ll be right back.” whispered, George makes his way over to his friend. Dream listens intently, the only thing he could see was the inside of his box.  
“Hey, George, I just want to apologize-”  
“Don’t. What you did was reckless, yes, but I yelled at you for it then left you alone to take care of yourself even though you were injured. I threw a tantrum and left without saying anything. I’m sorry.” George pardoned. Sapnap looked at George in shock. He was expecting to have to apologize profusely to his older roommate till he stubbornly gave in.  
“How about we both forgive each other and move on?” Sapnap offered, smiling.  
George smirked back. “Deal.” George’s face fell after a moment, as if realizing something. “OH! I found something in the woods while I was out!” George exclaimed, dragging Sapnap by the arm into the living space. Their house was quite cozy, even with two stories. There was a crafting table, several furnaces, windows, and a makeshift table for eating. The frame itself was made with cobblestone flooring and spruce walls, and glass windows. The room was lit up with lanterns and the lit furnace, giving the house a glow to it. George gently picks up the box, lid forgotten on the floor, and holds it out to sapnap.  
“Look at this cool thing I found! Blob, meet Sapnap!” George gleams. Sapnap peers into the box, leaning forward towards it to get a better look.  
“What the fresh hell is that?” He asks after a moment.  
“I dunno, I found him in this box outside an abandoned Taiga village.” George shrugged. The blob in question stared blankly at Sapnap, his derpy smile growing a little wider. Sapnap raised an eyebrow.  
“It’s kinda creepy.”  
“He’s adorable.” George countered. “He can understand you, ya know. Isn’t that right little blob guy?” The blob nodded vigorously, looking up at George this time. Sapnap’s eyes widened in surprise.  
“No way!” He chuckled, peering closer into the box.  
“What should we name him?” George asks.  
“Well, if he can understand us, maybe he already has a name?” Sapnap thought out loud.  
“Well, let’s just ask him then,” George replied, walking towards the table to his right. George set the box with the blob inside down on the table, Sapnap following.  
“Come on out little guy.” George encouraged, holding his hands out for the blob to crawl onto. The blob did so, and George set him down gently on the table. The blob looked back and forth between the two humans standing in front of him.  
“So, blob dude.” Sapnap started. “You got a name?” The blob looked down for a moment, as if he were struggling, before shaking his head and gliding over to his box. Though he seemed to have no legs or any sort of way to move, the blob seemingly slides around on smooth surfaces like slick ice. The blob holds his little blob hands on the corner of the box and begins to push it around. George and Sapnap watch in curiosity as the blob turns the box around till the box had the side with the sharpie scribbles facing the two humans. The Blob points to the word “Dream” that was scribbled on the front.  
“You’re name’s Dream?” George asks. Dream nods happily, letting his little blob hands disappear. Sapnap laughs. “Well, Dream, welcome home.” Dream’s derpy smile faltered slightly, but only for a moment. George caught this but thought nothing of it.  
Sapnap sniffed the air a few times. “I just realized, were you cooking food?” he asks.  
“THE BEEF!” George cheers, scrambling over to the furnace and pulling out two cooked beef steaks with tongs, laying them on plates that were stacked on a shelf nearby.  
“Hell yeah!” Sapnap cheered as well. George looked at Dream for a moment. “What do you even eat little guy?” George asked the small blob. Dream simply stared at George curiously, beady eyes meeting goggled ones. Sapnap moved the box off the table and onto the floor, leaving dream sitting with more space.  
“I have an idea. Set the plates down on the table.” Sapnap smirked, walking to the other side of the room and grabbing a smaller plate. Setting the plate on the table in front of Dream, he cut off a small portion of his beef and put it on Dream’s plate, then tore off a piece of bread and did the same. Sapnap then sat down in his own seat, proud of his work.  
“A tiny meal for a tiny friend.” He announced. George laughed, sitting down to eat as well. Dream scarfed his food gratefully, he probably hadn’t eaten in days. As the trio ate, they tried to communicate with Dream, asking him questions and making plans as to how they were going to help take care of him, but they soon found out that Dream was incapable of speaking words, only able to make small sounds and chirps. His mouth, when it rarely opened, was black like a void, there were no teeth, which confused the hell out of George when he had just seen him chewing on food moments before. Sapnap also seemed to notice this, but instead, he started laughing about it. The air was light, and the rest of the evening was filled with laughter. After a late-night of just messing around and relaxing, they went upstairs to bed. George put Dream in his box and carried him upstairs, then set the box down between George’s and Sapnap’s beds. Sapnap’s bed sat on the far right, George’s was in the middle, and Bad’s empty bed sat the farthest away by the other window. Any dampness or chill had left the box, leaving it warm and cozy from the warm house.  
Dream rather liked the softness of the sweater that was used as both mattress and blanket at the bottom of his box. He thought it was comforting and warm, unlike the icy cold of pouring autumn rain. Dream found himself feeling safe, but he knew this probably wouldn’t last. The last home he lived in was nice and warm like this too, until zombies came through and wiped out the village. He was lucky to be kept safe in a box, but he wishes his villager friend didn’t just leave him alone to die outside. He could’ve left the box, yes, but where would he have gone? Not anywhere safe. Nowhere was safe these days for Dream. He could easily be stepped on or eaten by something bigger than him. For all he knew, George and Sapnap could be fattening him up to eat him. It wasn’t likely, but it was still possible. Maybe these two would be the ones that could finally help him. But Dream knew that probably wouldn’t happen.


	2. Chaotic Family is the best kind of family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream lives out a typical day with George.

Dream awoke early in the morning, well before the other two boys did. He didn’t really need as much sleep for his small size, so the small blob sits up in his box a while before the sun would come up. His box’s lid was kept off, so Dream crawled out of his box with relative ease. Gliding across the cobblestone flooring, he pushed himself towards Sapnap’s bed. He crawled up onto the bed, and carefully crawled over his legs before pulling himself onto the window sill. Dream sat there till the other two would wake, watching the early morning sunrise out of its bed of horizoned hills and trees. Dream’s derpy smile was a calm one. This was his favorite time of day, when the sun rises in the mornings. He loved every streak of orange, red, and yellow that painted the skies. Sunrises on quiet mornings like these are what kept Dream grounded.

Sapnap woke up first, slowly blinking open his eyes as the sun’s outstretched rays lay themselves across the room. Sitting up, he noticed the small blob dubbed Dream sitting peacefully on his window sill.

“G' morning, Lil’ buddy.” Sapnap yawned. This startled Dream a little, who hadn’t noticed Sapnap get up. He settled pretty quickly afterward, smiling up at the ravenette as a ‘good morning’ back.

“Watching the sunrise?” Sapnap asked, looking out the window himself. Dream nodded, but was already looking back out the window to watch the sunrise. The peaceful silence between the two lasted for a few minutes longer as they watched the sunrise, taking a moment to really appreciate it’s beauty and serenity.

“Alright,” Sapnap said after around ten minutes. “I’ve gotta wake up the idiot.” Dream seemed to snicker at this, not tearing his eyes away from the window. Sapnap stretched as he got out of bed, cracking his back and popping his knuckles. He made his way over to George’s bed, and not-so-gently shook him awake.

“Get up.” He commanded blandly. “I let you sleep in, get up lazy bones.” George groaned, pushing Sapnap’s prodding hands away and sitting up, rubbing his eyes.

“Ugh, fine, I’m up, I’m up.” The older man responded sleepily, stretching. George looked over to Dream’s box, and frowned at the lack of Dream. “Where’s-?”

“Over there.” Sapnap pointed a thumb behind him, where Dream was still watching the outside world. Upon hearing this, Dream turned around curiously, his head either doing a 360 or his entire body turning. You couldn’t really tell. George visibly relaxed slightly, clearly relieved that Dream wasn’t lost or something. Sapnap went into the closet to get dressed as George finished waking up. Dream watched George curiously as he retrieved his goggles from the floor and pushed them up onto his forehead. He got out of bed and stretched, taking his time to be ready for the day. Sapnap came out from the closet, dressed in his favorite white t-shirt with fire printed on it, with a black long sleeve shirt underneath, and his white headband to top it off. George walked into the closet to get dressed afterward, gently closing the door with a ‘click!’. Sapnap looked at Dream, who was sitting patiently on the window sill. Sapnap held his hands out in front of him.

“You want to help me make breakfast Dream?” He asked. Dream nodded happily, hopping onto Sapnap’s hands. Sapnap set Dream on his shoulder gently. “Can you hold on there okay?” Sapnap asked. Dream nodded again, this time chirping a confirmation as he held onto Sapnap’s headband strands for extra support. Sapnap then walked downstairs to the kitchen and straight outside. The cool morning air left Sapnap’s lungs feeling fuller, energizing his movements as he breathed in the scent of damp pine. He walked around to the back of the house where the sweet berry bushes grew and picked up the basket that sat beside them. Dream watched curiously as Sapnap carefully picked the ruby red berries before setting them in the woven basket.

“Tomorrow, you’ll meet Bad, I think,” Sapnap told Dream as he picked a few more berries. He stood up before speaking again. “He’s visiting his friend Skeppy right now, but he’ll be back by tomorrow. When Bad gets back we can finally make the house bigger, it’s so small right now.” Sapnap chuckled, making his way back to the house. When Sapnap walked inside with a basket half-full of berries and Dream still on his shoulder, George was cutting bread in the kitchen. He was wearing another blue shirt, nearly identical to the one he wore yesterday. Sapnap set Dream down on the counter before putting the berries in a strainer and washing them. After washed berries and Bread were all on respective plates, the trio sat down for breakfast. It was much more peaceful than last night, Sap and George going over what they planned on doing that day while Dream listened as he ate.

“I’m going to go logging today so we have plenty of wood to extend the house with when Bad gets back.” George states. Sapnap nods in response.

“Good idea. We need to go mining soon too, we have next to no iron and my armor’s gonna break soon.” Sapnap replies. "I'm thinking I'll just go out myself to mine today." 

“Are you going to be okay mining by yourself? You got pretty scraped up yesterday.” George asked worriedly.

“Pshh, I’ll be fine, George.” Sapnap smirks. “Nothing can kill me, I am a god.” 

“Well, now I know you’re going to die down there.” George chuckled, shaking his head.

“Hey! You’re supposed to encourage me!” Sapnap gasps, fake feigning offense.

“What about Dream?” George asks after a moment.

“What about him?”

“Well, we can’t just leave him alone here,” George says. Sapnap thinks for a moment, tapping his chin with the tip of his fork’s handle.

“He should probably go with you, it’s safer. If he came with me he’d get yote into the lava.” Sapnap replies casually. George snorts, nearly choking on his food. Dream was snickering again.

“What?” Sapnap asks, laughing awkwardly.

“Did-” George swallows the rest of his food an continues to laugh. “Did you just use Yeet in past tense?”

“Yup,” Sapnap smirked. The house filled with laughter once more as the three finished their food and began to get ready for their chores. George put on his armor that was sitting by the door, and picked up the tiny blob, letting him ride on top of his head.

“Ight Sap, I’m heading out!” George called out to his housemate, who was still prepping to go mining.

“Kay!” He called back, and George took that as a sign to leave. Cool autumn air hit Dream’s face once more, and Dream smiled a little wider in response. He actually quite liked the cool air, just not when he was trapped in it for more than 24 hours. George began to chop down wood in silence for a while, Dream patiently watching from atop George’s floof of hair. He occasionally would grip onto George’s hair tufts for support on a particularly hard swing, which George would respond with a “You good up there?” and waited for the soft hum of confirmation from Dream. After a few hours, George had a large number of logs to drag back to the house and turn into planks. It would take a few trips to lug it all over, but George was prepared for that. He took the walk back to the house, around a five-minute trip, to grab the sled from their storage. It would be easier. 

Dream was content sitting atop George’s head and watching, but he wished he could help out. He didn’t want to be a burden to the two, soon three young men that had graciously taken him in. He tried not to think about such things though, and instead looked up at the sky. This morning had been clear, but as the day passed by clouds once again began to blanket the sky with a cool grey. The cool autumn air cooled down George’s body, which had begun to heat up from the physical activity.

The rest of the work part of the day went like this: George had a quick lunch with Dream, Sapnap probably took food down with him in the mine, then George took out the sled and load by load began to drag spruce logs back to the house left side of the house where wood was chopped and made into craftable items. Once lugged over George took Dream off from atop his head and set him down on a stump nearby, just far enough that splinters from the wood shouldn’t hit him. After a few logs of silence, George spoke.

“So, Dream.” George huffed as he swung his ax down with precision. “Where’d you come from? That village?” He asked. Looking over at Dream, George saw that the blob seemed to be thinking. After a moment Dream nodded.

“Well, that wasn’t very convincing.” George snickered, moving the new planks aside into a pile and replacing it with a new log. Dream shook his head with a smile. ‘Can he express anything other than that smile?’ George thought to himself. Sure the smile got bigger or faltered at times with his emotion, but it never truly left his rounded face. He decided to ask the blob himself.

“Is your face stuck smiling like that, or are you just the happiest blob on the planet?” George asked lightly. Dream shook his head again, and George turned his attention to Dream to see he was struggling to move his face to make a point.

“Whoah, don’t hurt yourself or anything!” George frowned. “Sorry about that, and sorry if I was being insensitive. It must suck.” George apologized. It was weird hearing himself apologize twice in less than 24 hours, but he guessed he just really wanted to keep the blob happy. It was like spoiling a cat for the fun of spoiling it. But instead of physical items, it was friendship. That sounded so cheesy and dumb in George’s head he almost gagged, but instead, he shook his head and went back to chopping wood. After a few minutes of silence, George got an idea.

“Hey, do you know how to write?” George asked Dream, who was looking up at the sky. Dream’s beady eyes met George’s as he made a ‘so-so’ movement with his head. George’s eyes lit up. “I’m not even going to question how that’s possible, but we should get you a book and quill for you to write in! Then you could communicate a little easier!” George suggested, clearly proud of himself for creating such a genius idea. Dream’s eyes lit up. Yes! He wanted to use real words so badly, it’d been so long. George chuckled.

“I take it you like my idea?” George asked Dream. 

“Ooh, What idea? Who are you talking too?” A new voice sounded from behind George. He grinned widely, turning to face the muffin himself.

“Bad! You’re back! Took you long enough!” George laughed. Bad smiled.

“Hey! I’m here a full day early, what are you talking about?!” He retorted. “Feels good to be back, though. Now we can finish the house! I am ready for a nap already.”

“I would assume so, you didn’t even tame a horse!” George teased.

“I didn’t have a saddle! It would’ve been pointless!” Bad retorted once more. “But seriously though, who were you talking too? Sapnap left a note saying he was in the mines. You going crazy on me George?” he teased.

“Ha, no. Bad, meet the newest member of the household!” George walked over to the stump Dream sat on, letting him hop onto his outstretched palm. “Bad, meed Dream! Dream, meet Badboyhalo!” George grinned. Dream waved one of his blob hands at Bad as a greeting, beady eyes looking up at the stranger.

“Oh my goodness!” Bad exclaimed, looking at Dream with glee-filled glowing eyes. “He’s adorable!”

“He can understand us too! He’s like a tiny person with no arms!” George gushed.

“How does he have hands though?” Bad raised an eyebrow.

“I have no idea. This guy likes to defy all laws of physics. Like you.” George joked. Bad laughed lightly in return.

“Come on, I’m sure you could use a break. I’ll make snacks for all four of us!” Bad announced, leading George with Dream still in his palms back into the warm house. George set Dream on the table and sat down once they got inside. He could feel his muscles relax as he leaned back in a kitchen chair, his body grateful for the break. Dream was wondering across the table towards Bad, who was making a snack with bread and berries, similar to their breakfast, but George couldn’t care less. Food was food, and he was hungry. Dream watched Bad from across the room as he put the snacks onto four plates, one significantly smaller than the others, then leaving one on the counter for Sapnap. He set the plates onto the table for George, Dream, and himself to enjoy.

“Whoo! Thanks, Bad!” George whooed tiredly, exhaustion setting in. As they ate, George asked Bad about his trip to Skeppy’s, and Bad asked questions about Dream and Sapnap. Bad was not made aware of the enderman argument, but if it came up later he’d probably get mothered for it by the hybrid himself. It wasn’t long till Sapnap came into the house, covered in soot and dirt, his white T-shirt probably kept safely folded in his bag as he only had his black long sleeve on.

“Bad! You’re back early!” Sapnap smiled, setting his bag down by the door. “And I see you’ve met little blob dude.”

“Heya Sapnap. I left from Skeppy’s a day early, something came up.” Bad explained. “He said his ping was spoofed or something, I dunno what it means but it doesn’t sound good.” Bad shrugged. George and Sapnap both held in knowing giggles as they began to catch up. Dream simply sat and watched silently, smiling a legitimate smile at the way these three interacted. It was so friendly and light and so much like a family, Dream knew this had to be too good to be true. But it wasn’t. It was just good enough to be true and that’s all that mattered.

\-------------------------------------------------

As Sapnap finished eating, George finally got up from his seat to dig through one of the chests, not stopping till he finally fished out a spare book and the smallest quill he could find. Setting the two items on the table, he sat back down, looking at Dream with a knowing look.

“What’s that for?” Sapnap asked.

“Well, while I was chopping wood this afternoon, I was talking to Dream,” George explains, looking between the three characters. “And Dream hinted at maybe being able to write.”

The two young men look curiously down at Dream, who is already excitedly grabbing the quill George had laid down. Even though the quill itself was smaller than most, it still towered a full inch over Dream’s head. George ran upstairs quickly and came back down with a small bottle of chocolatey-black ink, setting it down next to the book. Sapnap and Bad hovered over the table curiously, each of their minds reeling with questions they wanted to ask the small blob.

“Here, I’ll ink the quill for you.” George offers, and Dream reluctantly gives George the quill, only to quickly snatch it the second he could. He began to scribble something messy yet legible in big letters on the top of the first page.

‘Hello!’

The three smiled widely at each other and at Dream, clearly filled with excitement. Sapnap was the first to blurt out a question.

“Are you actually a dude?” 

“Sapnap!” Bad exclaimed.

“What? It’s a valid question!” Sapnap grinned. Dream snickered before answering.

‘I am a boy, yes.’

“How old are you?” George asked.

‘20.’ Dream writes. This leaves the trio in shock for a moment.

“No way!” Sapnap says, bewildered. Dream nods a sly nod, snickering still.

“Why can’t you talk?” Bad asks gently. Dream’s smile falters slightly, so slightly it’s barely noticeable, but George catches it. That’s the second time he’s seen that.

‘Does he have a bad past he doesn’t like to talk about?’ George wonders to himself. Dream scribbles his answer down on the parchment.

‘Can’t.’ Was all that was written. There was a moment of silence that enveloped the room like an uncomfortable hug from your ex-boyfriend.

“What’s your favorite food?” Bad asks Dream in an attempt to redirect him and the silence away from that topic. It works, and soon Dream is scribbling down happily on the page again. Avoiding any more personal questions, they kept this up till it was time for bed, closing the book, and each boy retreating to their beds. The only one who bothered to change was Bad, who came out from the changing closet moments later in a dark grey t-shirt with black and red sweatpants. They all smelled horrid from working all day and not bathing, but they’d do that tomorrow. Sapnap set Dream down in his box and they all crashed in their beds for the night.

Dream enjoyed living here, and he hoped it would last for as long as possible. His other homes had been nice, but none of them could compare to this energy that the trio had. It was chaotic and loving, such a strange combination, but it worked none the less. Smiling, Dream closed his eyes and snuggled up into the comfort of George’s hoodie, wishing a silent ‘goodnight’ to his new-found friends.


	3. House of Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buckle up Buttercups, this is a long one! Hurt-comfort chapter, warning for mild angst!

Screams and the loud clangs of a bell rang out through the small taiga village, waking everyone up as hordes of mobs, mostly zombies, ransacked the village of all hope. Dream climbed out of his box and watched worriedly as the boys ran around their house, gathering bare essentials in a pack, which consisted of a small amount of food, an iron axe or sword in hand, and the clothes on their back. One of them put Dream in his smaller, empty box, put the lid on it, and held it against his side. The bigger box that Dream slept in would be too big to carry. Dream caught flashes of color and light as they swiftly left the house, the sounds of people shrieking, zombies groaning, and people running was undeniably terrifying, and all Dream could do was sit uncomfortably in the corner of a shoebox as his blonde friend ran with him in one hand, iron sword in the other. Dream could hear the sounds of zombies grow louder and more multiplied by the minute.   
“TOMMY, DROP DREAM!” A voice hollered.   
“WE CAN’T JUST-”   
“WE’LL COME BACK, YOU NEED TO DEFEND YOURSELF BETTER OR YOU’LL DIE! HE’LL BE FINE, WE’LL COME BACK!” The voice shrieked again. Tommy set the box down haphazardly by the treeline with Dream inside, and Dream could barely make out the words “I’m so sorry.” before being left alone. As the night went on, Dream listened to screaming, the thwips and clangs of swords, groaning, then eventually, a silence fell over the area like a heavy fog as the last zombie limped by. The fog was so thick it was suffocating and Dream found that he couldn’t breathe. He’s trapped. He’s trapped and alone and he can’t get out and he can’t breathe and oh god what does he do now-  
“...ream…”  
“Dream…”   
“Wake up buddy, it’s just a bad dream, Dream.”   
Dream’s eyes shot open, vision blurry from tears, and sat up quickly in his box. Looking up he saw Bad, his glowy eyes dimmed with worry. As Dream became aware of himself, he realized he was whimpering like a small animal, and still crying. He began to calm himself down as Bad mumbled words of comfort. Bad was sitting criss-cross-applesauce in front of Dream’s box, doing his best to calm down the blob. Dream looked silently up at Bad, his eyes asking for something but unable to communicate what it was. Luckily for Dream, Bad was pretty good at reading people.   
“Do you want a hug?” Bad asked quietly. Dream nodded hesitantly, not wanting to bother Bad anymore than he already had. Bad smiled gently and held his hands out together for Dream to hop on to. Dream clambered on, and Bad raised him to his chest and gave dream a gentle squeeze. Dream’s little blob hands clung to Bad’s shirt, and both boys felt themselves relax.   
After a few moments, Bad held Dream out in front of him. “You alright now?” He asked Dream. Looking smaller than ever, Dream nodded, smiling up at Bad gratefully. Bad was always a light sleeper, so it was no surprise that the whimpers that came from Dream in his sleep shook him from his slumber. It was probably around five in the morning, a little before Dream usually woke up, so he didn’t feel like falling back asleep. Bad seemed to feel the same way, keeping Dream in his hands as he took him downstairs quietly so as to not wake up the other two young men. Setting Dream on the table, Bad sat down beside him, eyeing the book that still lay open from last night’s shenanigans.   
“Do you want to talk about it?” Bad asked Dream gently. Dream seemed to think over this for a moment before reaching for the quill that sat nearby. Bad helped dip the pen into the ink and opened to a fresh page in the journal. Dream hesitantly grabbed the quil and began to write.   
‘It was just a bad dream. I’ll be okay. I do want to talk to you though.’ The page read. Bad nodded, smiling.   
“Well, what do you think about living here?” Bad asked. Dream’s usual smile widened a little.   
‘I really like it here. You all are so nice. Thank you.’   
“No problem, Dream!” Bad replied out loud. “George said he found you freezing outside an old village, I don’t think anyone sensible could just leave you out there.”  
‘I’m glad he found me. I guess finding me out there could be a fun ice-breaker’ Dream snickered as he wrote down his response. Chuckling, Bad bit his cheek.   
“Why were you out there anyway?” Bad asked. “How’d you end up in that box in the middle of nowhere?”   
Dream paused, handing his quill to Bad for more ink. Bad dipped the quill again and handed it back to Dream so he could answer.   
‘I lived with a family of villagers until a zombie outbreak occurred. They left me during their escape, and I doubt they’d find me if they were even alive.’   
Bad frowned. “I’m so sorry to hear that. That’s horrible.” He mumbled, unfurrowing his eyebrows. “Well, we know how to defend ourselves instead of using a golem, so don’t worry about that happening again.” Bad comforted. Dream seemed to take in a deep breath before continuing.   
‘I wish I could help protect you guys.’   
“Oh, you don’t need to. We’re tough and very hardcore.” Bad smiled, patting Dream lightly on the back. Dream would’ve rolled his eyes if he could.   
Bad and Dream talked for a little while longer before Sapnap came sleepily down the stairs.   
“Why you two up so early?” Sapnap yawned, rubbing his eye with his closed hand before sitting at the table.   
“Dream had a bad dream, so we decided to get out of bed.” Bad explained, shrugging.   
“Would Dream’s evil twin be Nightmare?” Sapnap chuckled, laying his head down on the table. Dream snickered and began to doodle in the book. After a moment, Dream revealed a messy drawing of himself, with a line for an arm that led to a knife, his derpy smile looked more evil with angry eyebrows drawn in on his forehead. Next to it was the word ‘Nightmare’ messily written in. They had learned last night that Dream had quite a sense of humor. They also learned that Dream quite enjoyed the color green, among other things.   
Bad and Sapnap laughed, causing Dream to laugh out loud as well, which wasn’t unusual, as seen by last night, but it scared the hell out of Sapnap when Dream let out a wheeze. Bad laughed even harder as George came sleepily down the stairs.   
“You guys having fun without me?” George gasped, mocking offense. Sapnap was just staring at Dream as Bad laughed.  
“Are- Are you good?” Sapnap asked, beginning to laugh again. George was about to ask what was going on again but shut his open mouth when the small blob let out another soft wheeze, derpy smile wider than ever. George then joined in on the laughter, putting a hand on the table as he sat down.   
Another cheerful breakfast, now with Bad included, ended with everyone going to do chores. Sapnap was going to begin placing the framework for the new extensions to the house, Bad was going to begin digging out a place for the basement, and George was going to finish the rest of the wood chopping and putting together planks with Dream.   
And the day went by similarly to the day before, much to Dream’s content. The heavy grey clouds overhead said that it was definitely going to rain soon, probably by tonight, Dream guessed. Dream spent a lot of time staring at the sky, George noticed, which the 23-year-old found funny. George thinks he might show Dream some constellations once the sky clears.   
George thinks about what Bad told him about after breakfast, as they were getting ready upstairs.   
-flashback-  
“Dream had a nightmare last night. He seemed really disturbed in his sleep, and you know...It just reminded me of myself a long time ago, ya know?” Bad had told him with a worried expression and a hushed voice.  
“Back from the incident? Yeah, I get that. You’re implying something though, I can tell.” George said, furrowing his eyebrows together.   
“Well, we’ve never seen anything like him before, he can write and understand us but he can’t speak, and he seems to struggle a lot with his own body. I don’t want to assume anything, but it just seems so...familiar.” Bad sighed. George furrowed his eyebrows and looked over to the table across the room, where Sapnap was telling Dream about the time he set his first house on fire.   
“Maybe we could ask him tonight,” George suggested, shrugging his shoulders. Bad shook his head.   
“I dunno, he seems pretty reluctant to tell us anything personal. I feel like we should gain his trust more.” Bad admit.   
“We’ll see. Let’s talk about it later with Sapnap, alright?” George smiled, patting Bad on the shoulder. Bad nodded.   
“Alright.” 

-Present moment- 

George huffed as he threw his ax down on wood once more, breaking a piece off to be turned into full planks next. Was Dream cursed? Was he some sort of experiment? Or was he just a really intelligent creature nobody had discovered before? It didn’t make sense in George’s head. Making the last of the planks, Sapnap came over and took a big load using the sled.   
“We may need more wood.” Sapnap thought out loud, looking at the large pile of wooden planks that were steadily shrinking as he kept coming back for more.   
“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.” George groaned as Dream snickered in the background. Sapnap sighed.   
“Sorry dude, but if we’re making a big house, we’re gonna need a lot of wood.”   
“Yeah, I know,” George whined, walking over to Dream. “Come on, Dream.” Dream chirped as he was placed on top of George’s head once again. Dream went into his mind palace, closing his eyes and imagining his happy place. He wasn’t panicked or scared, but rather just bored, and would rather be running around by himself. Not that he didn’t enjoy George’s company, of course. He was just used to the days where the family he used to live with would leave him alone for hours on end, just to come back around dinner and spend time with him again. He was supposed to stay in the box, but he didn’t usually do that.   
Dream’s happy place was a large open field littered with flowers in the spring, not unlike the one he used to run around in as a child. There was a river nearby for whatever you do with rivers, and a nest of bees. The bees were a newer addition to Dream’s happy place, thanks to the last family he lived with.   
George tended to try and walk farther from their home to cut trees so that the natural look of the surrounding area would be kept nice. Their house was already inside a big enough clearing, so he tended to walk around to different spots to cut down trees. It also kept the forest looking nice, so that was a plus. George settled on a tree to cut down, unaware of where he was and started chopping. Dream, however, knew exactly where they were. Just outside the Taiga village that Dream used to live in. This wouldn’t have been much of a problem, on most days. Dream often moved from house to house he tried to tell himself, bringing his mind back to his happy place. He tried not to dwell on old memories as George worked, as he didn’t think much about his location, but soon Dream found himself gripping onto George’s hair and shrinking in on himself sub-consciously. George felt the movement and stopped.   
“You okay up there, Dream?” George asked. Dream let out a chirp that said he was fine, but the way his voice cracked slightly stuck out like a sore thumb. George laid his ax down leaning against a still-standing tree and picked Dream up gently from upon his head, holding him instead gently in front of himself.   
“Dream, what’s wrong?” George asked the blob once more, but Dream seemed to have shut down, simply looking down and shaking his head. George looked around the trees, eventually spotting broken down wood structures in the distance, mostly covered by thick trees.   
“Dream, take in a deep breath, I’m sorry if this place brings back any bad memories for you.” George tried to comfort the small blob, who only responded by shaking his head more vigorously before looking George in the eyes. Dream’s once beady eyes had grown a little wider in sheer panic. George pat Dream on the head with his index and middle finger as a means of comfort, which seemed to work pretty well. After a few moments of silence, George spoke again.   
“Are you gonna be okay? We can go home if you want.” George said quietly. Dream nodded to the first question, but then shook his head to the second.   
“Do you want to look through your old village? Maybe we could salvage something of yours.” George suggested. Dream was about to shake his head again, but remembered something that he knew was probably left behind in the chaos. Dream hesitantly nodded his head. George smiled, setting Dream on top of his head again, and made his way towards the abandoned village. The village had very few zombie villagers wandering around, which George made a point of avoiding. Dream looked around the whole village, ignoring flashing memories and looking for a specific house.   
There it is. The house was two stories tall, made with spruce wood and cobblestone, with windows on all sides and the door left wide open. In front of the house was a turned over clay pot, the wilted fern that used to grow inside laying limply in the dirt pathway. Dream chirped, tugging a tuft of George’s hair towards the abandoned house. George looked over in that direction and smiled sadly.   
“Is that your old home?” George asked gently. Dream chirped again anxiously, pulling George’s hair a little tighter. “Okay, okay, let’s go then.” George chuckled. He made his way over to the spruce house and went inside, minding to duck a little so Dream wouldn’t get knocked off by the door frame. Not that he was tall enough for Dream to hit the frame, but Dream was thankful regardless. Inside was a big open area, kitchen and crafting all on the left, a dining table, and a smaller coffee table sitting just how Dream remembered it. After all, he was here just three days ago. The coffee table had a sign hanging off it, which once coming closer read: “The big man’s throne!” Dream smiled at the memory of being placed upon this pedestal as two young boys would go on about their day and dramas to Dream, as a third let pork cook in the furnace. In the back of the room, there was a ladder that led to the second floor. George took a long look at the coffee table that Dream used to sit on, and silently made his way to the ladder. Just as the top of George’s head peered over the second floor Dream hopped off and ran, making small pitter-pattering sounds as he sped across the spruce wood floor.  
“Dream?” George called to his blob friend as he hopped off the ladder and onto the carpeted floor of the second story. The second floor had one regular bed to the left, a bunk bed to the right, and a nightstand in the middle. The bottom bunk had a red blanket, the top one had a green blanket, and the regular bed had a yellow blanket. Although, they all had next to zero difference in color to George’s eyes. The bed on the left had a guitar left on it, a single string broken and split into two horrendous directions. The room itself was empty and grey, devoid of life and color, despite the colorful sheets and art taped onto the walls. Dream had hopped onto the nightstand, somehow, and opened the top drawer, and was now digging through it. George approached the emotionally struggling blob-man that was throwing old papers out of the drawer like a crazy person, each seeming to be some sort of drawing. A family of artists, it seemed.   
“What are you looking for?” George asked, for what must be the millionth time with a gentle tone. Ignoring George, Dream continued to dig through drawings, some realistic, some more cartoony and blocky, and others just plain stick figures. As Dream searches, George looks at the many drawings taped on the wall. The one that catches his eye is a drawing of a cartoonish bumblebee sitting upon a cornflower. It was quite adorable. Dream stopped finally after a few more moments, seeming to have found what he was searching for. Dream pulls out a realistic-looking drawing of three young men in head and shoulder view, one of which was holding Dream in his hands. The tallest of the three, and presumably the oldest, was wearing a red beanie and had curly brown hair flying out the front of it, and wire glasses, topping the look off with a yellow sweater. Another boy down and to the right was standing underneath the beanie guy with medium length straight brown hair, a dark green collared shirt, and emerald green eyes. The boy down and to the right was blonde, with a white and red baseball tee and bright blue eyes. The boy with the green shirt was holding Dream in his hands. The drawing was so realistic with color, it was almost real. Dream handed George the drawing, who in turn picked it up and studied it carefully.   
“Was this who you used to live with?” George asked. Dream nodded before hopping back onto the top of the dresser and shutting the top drawer with ease, as if he’d done it hundreds of times. Dream then pointed to the second drawer in the middle, which George helpfully opened. Dream didn’t feel like finding the string he used to use to open some of these drawers, it was lost in the chaos of the failed evacuation. Inside the second drawer were some pencils, quills, and paper. Dream took a pencil and two sheets of paper and began to scribble down messy words.  
‘That’s Wilbur, (top) Tommy, (right) and Tubbo (left).’ Dream wrote. George stared at the drawing with interest. The one on the left, Tubbo, right? He looked familiar somehow. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he did. George looked down and the drawing for a few more seconds before looking back at Dream.   
“Do you want to talk about what happened?” George asked. Dream simply seemed to stare at his pencil, debating whether or not he should. Dream didn’t particularly want to. Dream quite liked his privacy, and he felt a little too vulnerable in this house packed to the brim of two years worth of memories. And even if Dream did want to, how would he communicate his words properly? He was always better at speaking than writing, why did he have to have his voice taken?   
“You don’t have to.” George reassured. Dream seemed to relax a little, looking downwards towards the floor. “How about this. We take some drawings and photos from around the house and set them in and around your box, so you can remember them? Maybe they’re not gone gone, just lost somewhere, and trying to find you.” George offered, giving Dream a patient smile. Dream seemed to perk up at this, nodding his head and smiling gratefully at George.   
‘Thank you.’   
“No probbo, blobbo.” George chuckled, picking Dream up and setting him on his head. George and Dream spent a good ten more minutes gathering some Drawings, a blanket, Dream’s old box, and a few stacks of that paper. George put the things in Dream’s cushioned box before heading back towards the trees. George helped Dream emotionally by cracking some jokes and letting Dream play with his hair that he sat upon as he carried the box downstairs and out of the house. George was about to start heading down the path when Dream let out a hurried chirp.   
“What is it?” George asked. Dream tugged on George’s hair, and George looked around in that general direction. Trees, broken down library, grass. “I don’t see anything.” Dream chirped again, tugging George’s hair down. George looked down towards his feet and spotted the knocked over fern below him.   
“The fern?” Dream chirped as a confirmation. “What about it?” George asked. Dream just chirped again, as if urging George to do something.   
“You want me to save it?” George guessed. Dream nodded, happily chirping his response. George kneeled down, setting down Dream’s box beside him, and began to pick up as much of the scattered soil as he could and put it in the pot with the fern. The fern was limp and fragile, so George made sure to be extra careful. If it meant this much to Dream to save the plant, then save the plant he shall. It’s what friends do, right? When the fern was secure in the pot, George set it gently down in the box.  
“We’ll save it, I’m sure Bad would like having a plant around.” George smiled. Dream didn’t respond, but George assumed Dream was happier than when they came in. George walked back to the tree line, picking up his ax on the way and going back home for the sled, box of Dream’s things in hand. The walk to the house was peaceful, not even a spider or Skeleton disturbed their path, only the tweets of birds flying south overhead and the chitters of squirrels hiding nuts for the winter broke the comforting silence. George quickly set the box of Dream’s stuff inside, making sure the fern had a drink of water before setting it carefully back outside. Sled stolen from Sapnap in tug behind him, George made his way back to where he had abandoned his wood logs. The late afternoon sun had completely disappeared under the thick layer of dark grey clouds, covering the sky in a cool blanket. George piled the logs onto the sled in silence, Dream watching with a blank stare.   
“Hey Dream?” George asked, throwing on the last log.   
“Mm?” Dream chirped.   
“Do you think someday you’d like to go looking for your family? Wilbur, Tommy, and Tubbo?”   
There was a moment of silence from Dream. He eventually chirped a confirming yes, but it sounded unsure, as if he had already given up on trying. George bit his cheek.   
“Well, maybe if we tell the others, we can look for them once the house is done. We like to go out on adventures, I’m sure that could be a fun trip.” George smiled at the idea. They hadn’t gone on an adventure as the three muffinteers in a while, not since they had all moved out from their villages together. The three had been pen pals for a long time before deciding to meet in person for the first time. As a celebration, they went on a trip to the nether together, something not many people had done safely. Bad had initially protested, but eventually, he got on board as well. They befriended pigmen, avoided piglins, and fought a Ghast together. After all that, they knew being roommates would be a very ‘pog’ idea. (Sapnap said he heard someone say ‘pog’ once, and thought it was great.) So, after a few months of planning, they all met up again and traveled to find a biome they’d all love to settle in. It was fun, but exhausting, as George remembered, but he didn’t regret a second of it. The three have lived in that smaller cottage that they built the day they got there for at least two months before George found Dream. George could actually remember what he was doing the night of the big zombie raid, Bad was long gone, and Sap didn’t feel like fighting, so they just stayed inside that night, shooting any stray zombies that came to close with bows and arrows. It was too bad their house was too far away to hear the screams of the nearby village.   
George blinked a few times, coming out of his thoughts as he approached the house. Realizing he didn’t even hear Dream’s response to his idea made him roll his eyes at himself. He noticed the sky was darker, and the clouds looked somehow more heavy than earlier. It was definitely going to rain tonight. The sun was beginning to set somewhere behind the clouds, and George wasn’t in the mood to spend a night fighting in the rain, so he Dragged the sled to the side of the house, covered the wood with a tarp, and headed inside. Sapnap and Bad were already inside, sitting at the table and talking about the progress they’d made on the house. There were now two tarped off walls that led to the framework outside, and a messy staircase that went down into what was soon going to be the basement. George sighed in relief as he sat down at the table, greeting his friends. Dream took the ‘fun’ route down, swinging off George’s goggles and onto the table. All three boys looked exhausted, and Dream was emotionally drained.   
“So…” Sapnap started. “Where’d the box come from?” George blinked, realizing what he meant.   
“Oh, that,” George mumbled. “Dream, can I tell them about…them?” George asked, looking down at the blob for permission. It was technically his private information, he wasn’t about to share his whole backstory to the table. Although, now that he thought about it, emphasizing ‘them’ probably wasn’t a good idea for being subtle. Dream, thankfully, nodded in response, gesturing with his head toward the box of things that sat by the door. George got up from his seat and brought the box of things over.   
“So.” George started. “I found Dream in a box next to this abandoned village, right? Well, that village was the village he used to live in.” George looked at Dream nervously, but when Dream nodded in approval to go on, George relaxed a bit. “The night of the zombie raid wiped out the village, and Dream was somehow separated from his family.” George pulled out the drawing that Dream had shown George earlier that day. “This is Wilbur, Tommy, and Tubbo, according to Dream.”   
Sapnap gently took the image from George and inspected it. Dream was looking down at the ground blankly. Bad was looking at the blob in concern, remembering what Dream had written down to him that morning.   
‘They left me during their escape.’   
“There's a few more drawings in here from the three, but the fern I put outside and this box are Dream’s,” George explained. “You used to sleep in here, right Dream? I’m sure Bad can fix it up to be super nice.” he offered. Bad hummed in agreement. Dream looked up at George blankly. It was a little unnerving, the emotionless smile catching George off guard. Looking back to the box, George moved on.   
“We also grabbed some paper for Dream to write on, and a blanket, because it’s cold and I want my sweater back.” George jokes, causing a chuckle out of Sapnap. The other drawings were very different in art style, one done in colored pencil, (a cartoon drawing of Dream and Tubbo sitting in the grass, bees flying around them) One done in graphite, (a realistic drawing of Wilbur and Tommy) and one done in marker (a stick figure drawing of Dream and Tommy, each holding a sword and fighting a stick-figure-zombie), and one of all four boys as blobs. These Drawings were taped gently to the wall above Dream’s now much bigger sleeping space, which was still located in between George’s and Sapnap’s beds. Sitting back down at the table, food in hand, George proposed his idea.   
“So, I was thinking.” George started.   
“You were thinking? Wow, that’s new.” Sapnap gasped in shock. George rolled his eyes, lightly shoving Sapnap to the side.   
“I was thinking that our next adventure could be helping Dream find his family after we finish the house. After all, they could still be out there.” George shrugged looking down at his food.   
“I think that’s a great idea!” Bad smiled, swallowing his food. “If Dream wants too, of course.”  
Sapnap nodded in agreement. “Yeah, sounds fun to me. What do ya think little guy?” Dream was silent, looking between all three of the muffinteers’ eyes before picking up his quill, and scooting over to a sheet of paper that laid on the table.   
‘You’d all really do that for me?’ Dream wrote, holding back a tear. Dream swore to himself in his mind, if he cried one more time today, he’d lose it.   
“Of course! It’s the least we could do!” Bad chimed.   
“Yeah my guy, why not?” Sapnap smiled.   
“Heck yeah, we will!” George cheered.   
Dreams smile grew so much wider, a great contrast to his blank smile that lay upon his face earlier.   
‘Thank you. Thank you so much.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I do some Tommy, Wilbur, and Tubbo backstory next chapter, or continue with the house building chapters? :0


	4. You will be found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO SORRY FOR THE DELAYS!! Being grounded sucks!! Check-in with the Wattpad version of this story for more consistent updates, for when I just disappear like this. My school computer blocks A03 cause of the firewall, but Wattpad passes fine. I'll try to update A03 more consistently to the best of my ability!

“It’s been four days, Will! What if he’s dead by now?!” The young blond shouted at his older brother, face red with rage. “I told you we couldn’t just leave him!!”   
“If you hadn’t put Dream down, you would’ve been bitten! I can’t lose you to a zombie, Tommy!” Wilbur spat back, sadness silver-lining his tone.   
“I could’ve handled it! I’m not a little kid anymore!”   
“This has nothing to do with that!” Wilbur protested. “I told you to put Dream down because it was restricting your movement and making you clumsy! We can’t afford that while fighting a horde of zombies! Besides, I didn’t think we’d get lost in the middle of nowhere! I get it, we’re hot, tired, and worried about Dream but we can’t turn on each other like this. ”   
“GUYS, STOP!” Tubbo shouted, pushing himself between the two idiots’ words. “We’ll get nowhere like this!” Tommy and Wilbur retreated from their heated battle, each silently surrendering. If Tubbo says to stop fighting, they stop. Don’t ask how it works, it just does. Even Tommy has stopped questioning it by now. Leaving the shack that the group now lived in, Tommy took in a deep breath and looked around at his surroundings. They were in the middle of a desert, not unlike the one their friends Philza and Techno live in. But Wilbur knows that desert. This was a different desert, one unfamiliar and dangerous. They had built themselves a small shack out of sandstone, but the living space had next to nothing else. It was unpleasantly warm during the day despite it being autumn, and chilly as hell at night, and Tommy hated it. He missed the warmth of summer and spring, the kind of warmth that was fun and pleasant and not so dry. The sun had begun to set behind a thick patch of clouds, causing the area’s surrounding temperature to cool down. Tommy sat down in the sand, frustratedly putting his head in his hands. Dream meant a lot to him and the others, why did he just leave him? He’s defenseless and small, and despite being apparently several years older than Tommy, Tommy felt a need to protect Dream, even before this unfortunate situation. Dream was easily hurt, they had found, so Tommy liked to make sure Dream was safe. But now, they’re stuck in the desert that no-one likes, Dream is probably starving to death in a box or lost trying to find food, he can’t go a minute without wanting to yell at Wilbur and Tubbo was injured on the way here. That’s the main reason they hadn’t left, anyway.   
Tubbo, during the race to get as far away from the massive horde of zombies, had sprained his ankle and thoroughly busted it. Tommy was worried about Dream, about Tubbo, about his home, about Wilbur, and about whether or not they were going to eat that night all at once and it was starting to get to him. Tommy thought he might lose it, but was startled out of his thoughts from a gentle touch on his shoulder. Looking up he saw his older brother Wilbur, sitting down next to him. Tommy pointedly looked away, still frustrated with his older sibling. Wilbur sighed.   
“I know you’re worried about Dream. And I know you’re going through a lot right now. We all are. But I want you to know that I’m sorry.” Wilbur started, looking at the horizon ahead of him. “I didn’t know we’d be stuck here. I didn’t know Tubbo would get hurt. I thought we would be able to run and get him once the horde had passed. Now Dream could be as stuck as we are. But Dream is strong, right?” Wilbur smiled, looking at Tommy. “He’ll be okay. And just like us, he’ll get unstuck, and we’ll find each other again. We just have to wait until Tubbo can walk. He’s too heavy for me to carry.”   
Tommy finally looked up at Wilbur, eyes watery with tears that threatened to spill. Instead of saying anything, he hugged his older brother, shoving his face into Wilbur’s soft sweater. Wilbur chuckled, hugging his little brother back. They stayed like this for a few minutes before the growl of a husk nearby cut them off.   
“We should go inside,” Tommy stated, standing up. Wilbur followed Tommy into the shack that they’d called their home the last few days. Tubbo was resting on the floor, his ankle held up by a large rock Tommy had dragged in for him. There wasn’t any sheep, let alone wood in the surrounding area to make a bed with, so they just dealt with a blanket that they’d brought with them and the cold sandy floor. Nighttime was freezing, and the three brothers often found themselves huddling together for warmth during the colder nights. But tonight may be different, for Wilbur had finally constructed a furnace earlier that day for cooking rabbit. No more eating half-cooked rabbit meat hazardly cooked on an open flame. Wilbur got really sick the day before, but had recovered mostly by this morning.   
Tommy simply laid down on the ground next to Tubbo, emotionally and physically exhausted, but didn’t fall asleep. He couldn’t. He was far too worried about Dream. Wilbur was still recovering from food poisoning, and Tubbo’s ankle was still busted. Tommy was the only one who could still up and run and defend himself properly. An idea began to form in the young boy’s head, thoughts and contradictions swirling through his mind, occasionally crashing into bigger plans. If they didn’t look for Dream now, they could lose him forever. Hell, he could already be dead. Wilbur would be fine to protect Tubbo. He could leave and come back in a few days, easy peasy, right? Holding himself and curling up on the hard dirt ground, Tommy knew what he was going to do. He was going to find Dream. 

\-----------------------------  
“BANG BANG BANG!!” 

Bad and Dream were the first to wake. Dream woke up, his breath hitching, and listened as Bad woke up. Bad startled out of bed, nearly falling flat on his face on top of the hardwood floor. Balancing himself and waking up, he grabbed a sword that sat next to George’s bed. Despite the initial banging having shaken Bad up, he was sure it was probably some zombie that wandered too close to the house and was trying to get in. 

“BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!”   
“PLEASE LET ME IN! ANYONE?!”   
Bad paused halfway down the stairs. Clutching his sword tighter, he ran to the door and opened up, letting a shorter young boy practically fall through the door and frantically slammed it behind him. The sounds of arrows hitting the other side of the door were particularly loud, and Bad watched in shock as the boy sunk down against the door, letting out a sigh of relief.   
“Thanks.” he breathed, looking up at Bad. He seemed startled at Bad’s appearance, which wasn’t new to him, but Bad was just as startled at the state the poor boy was in. A once red and white t-shirt was now stained with all sorts of yellows, browns, and crimsons, blond hair was messy and tangled in all different directions, face covered in dirt and scratches and hands calloused and raw. The boy’s face was pale, and he looked like he hadn’t slept for a few days.   
“Oh my goodness!! Are you okay?!” Bad asked, crouching down in front of the boy to meet his eye level. The boy just chuckled.   
“I’ve been better.” He replied. Bad offered him a hand. “Come on, let’s get you patched up.” The boy took Bad’s hand hesitantly, standing up with a grunt. Seconds later, a very sleepy Sapnap comes trotting down the stairs.   
“What’s all the ruckus down here?” Sapnap asked with a yawn. “It’s like three-am, and you’re scaring the shit out of Dream.”   
“Language.” Bad corrected.   
“Dream?” The boy asked, looking desperately at Sapnap. He almost didn’t believe what he’d heard. Bad looked at the boy closely. It was hard to see in the dark, but he looked awfully familiar.   
“Yeah, Dream. He’s our little buddy upstairs. Who are you?” Sapnap asked.   
“Sapnap! Don’t be rude! He’s hurt.” Bad was about to lecture him, but the boy cut him off.  
“My name’s Tommy.” Tommy introduced, earning some wide eyes from Bad. “I’m looking for someone named Dream.” The silence that filled the room was not a welcome one, as each of the boys had no clue what to say. After a moment, Sapnap cleared his throat.   
“Dream, the four-inch-tall blob thing, that Dream?” Sapnap asked skeptically. Tommy’s eyes lit up with joy and anticipation as he nodded his head frantically.   
“Yes! That Dream!”   
There was another brief moment of stunned silence.   
“Sapnap, how about you go get Dream. I’m going to help Tommy clean up.” Bad instructed. Sapnap nodded, heading up the stairs. “Come here, sit down,” Bad instructed, sitting Tommy down in one of the kitchen chairs. “I’m going to grab the first aid kit, stay here for a moment, okay?” Bad left the room, speed walking down the stairs that led to the new but unfinished basement. Tommy was left alone for a moment. Looking at the table, Tommy could see pages and pages scattered about, filled with Dream's scribbles and words. He really was here, wasn’t he? Tommy hadn’t done this search in vain? Hadn’t practically abandoned his brothers for nothing? As if the gods had heard his call, down came Sapnap, holding a very anxious Dream in his hands. Tommy’s head snapped towards the blob in Sapnap’s hands, smiling once he recognized his small beady eyes.   
“Dream?” Tommy asked. Dream looked frantic, his small eyes quickly scanning the room and spotting his blond friend, no, brother, very quickly. Sapnap was going to set Dream down carefully, but Dream quickly hopped off of Sapnap’s hands, onto the table, and right onto Tommy’s hand, which was resting on the table. Dream let out a squeak, a cry of relief, and tightly clutched Tommy’s hand for dear life, as if letting it go would mean waking up from this dream.   
“Dream!” Tommy hugged Dream to the best of his ability, picking up the blob and holding him close to his chest, similarly to how Bad held him while comforting the blob two nights ago. Tommy found himself letting a tear or two fall, finally releasing a large weight on his shoulders and letting it fall to the ground with an imaginary ‘clank!’. “You’re okay.” Tommy croaked. Dream let out a chirp of defiance, which Tommy interpreted as an: ‘you can't kill me that easy.’  
“How’ve you been Big man?” Tommy asked, setting Dream back on the table. Dream let go of Tommy in return to being set on the table, looking to Sapnap for help with a pen. Sapnap had been quiet and stepped back during the moment, but now he stepped forward, grabbing a pencil that was discarded on the counter and giving it to Dream along with a few fresh sheets of paper.   
“Here you go, little dude.” Sapnap smiled. Dream practically snatched the pencil, quickly and messily writing down his words.   
‘I’m fine, whatever, who cares! How are you!? I thought you were dead!’ Dream wrote.   
“Heh, I could say the same about you, Big Man.” Tommy chuckled. “I’ve been great, struggling to survive out in the wilderness, looking for your sorry ass.” Tommy joked. Dream shook his dead, writing down his response. As he did this, Bad came up from the basement holding a white box.   
“Sorry that took so long.” Bad apologized. “Everything down there’s a disorganized mess.”   
“It's fine.” Tommy smiled. Bad proceeded to give him a cloth with water, bandages, gauze, and some cleaning alcohol.  
“Help yourself, use as much as you need.” Bad encouraged. “We can always get more.”   
“Thank you. Really. You’re so kind, but I don’t think I caught your name…”   
“Oh! Where are my manners, you can call me Bad! Panda man over there is Sapnap, and our roommate George is still sleeping upstairs. The house could’ve blown up around him and he wouldn’t wake up.” Bad laughed.   
“Heh, reminds me of my brother.” Tommy smiled sadly, thinking about Tubbo as he began to wipe grime from off his arms and face. While Tommy was a particularly light sleeper, you would have to shake Tubbo aggressively until he woke up. He was torn from his thoughts, however, by the soft yet aggressive tapping of Dream’s blob hands on Tommy’s human ones. Tommy looked down at what Dream had written.   
‘Where’s Wilbur and Tubbo? Are they okay? Are they safe? What happened???’ Tommy sighed.  
“Wilbur and Tubbo are camping out in a shack in the middle of some desert. Tubbo busted his bloody ankle, so Wilbur’s taking care of him while I’m out here, looking for you.” Tommy smiled, despite feeling like shit, continuing to wipe dirt off of his cuts, bruises, and calluses so he could bandage what he needed too. He wasn’t too injured, just disheveled and exhausted. “What happened is a really long story that I will tell you once I’m not covered in dirt and have a few hours of sleep under my belt. Is that alright?” Tommy asked. Dream nodded understandingly, his derpy smile growing a little wider. Bad and Sapnap had moved to the side, speaking in private about where Tommy was going to sleep and what they needed to talk about in the morning. Tommy and Dream just shared a minute of comfortable silence.   
“Dream, be honest with me. It’s been a hot minute. Has it gotten any worse?” Tommy asked in a hushed voice, breaking the silence with a serious tone. Dream hesitated to respond.   
‘Only a little.’   
“Dream, don’t lie to me.”   
‘I’m not lying! I swear!’   
“How is it only a little worse?”   
‘I’m just having trouble moving my face. It’s just a little more stuck. That’s all, nothing new. It’s only been less than a week, not much has changed Tommy.’ Tommy sighed in relief. It was really easy to lose track of time, he wasn’t quite sure exactly how many days had passed since their village was decimated. Tommy finished fixing himself up, setting the cloth and any trash neatly beside him on the table.   
“Do these guys know?” Tommy asked quietly, which caught the attention of Bad’s sensitive ears. Bad tried not to eavesdrop, but his enhanced hearing made things difficult. Dream shook his head.  
‘No. I didn’t want to. I thought you all were gone, I didn’t want to think about anything other than if I could make my way up to the window to watch the sunrise that morning.’ Dream explained. Tommy nodded in understanding, patting Dream on the head. Dream shook his head, annoyed. Tommy always patted him a little too hard, as a way to tease him, which Dream usually responded with an annoying sound. Dream didn’t however, instead yawning tiredly. Bad and Sapnap approached the two.   
“Hey, Tommy. Sapnap agreed to sleep on the floor, so you could have his bed.” Bad explained. Tommy’s eyes widened a little, shaking his head.   
“No, I can’t do that. That’s his bed, I’ll be fine on the floor-”   
“No way dude. You’re tired and injured, I’m not. You can use my bed, it’s fine.” Sapnap cut Tommy off, shrugging. Tommy was way too tired to argue, so he let his shoulders sag.   
“Okay. Thank you.”   
Tommy followed Bad and Sapnap upstairs, Dream sitting on top of his head. Something about Dream was just compelling to let him sit happily upon someone’s head. Tommy doesn’t know how to explain it, but the serotonin that comes with letting Dream sit on your head like a cat-hat is amazing, and nothing can top it. Especially when you’ve been missing your blob friend that you thought was dead. Dream loved it too, it made him feel taller than he was. He just tried not to think about how high up he was, but rather thinking of it as what his vision would look like if he were as tall as the person he was sitting upon. Dream missed being tall.   
Upon entering the room, the first thing Tommy noticed was George lightly snoring in the bed that sat in the center of the room. The second thing he noticed was that Dream’s box was sitting on the floor between George’s bed and the empty bed to the left, the very same box that once sat in his own residence. He was too tired to ask about it, so he didn’t. Sapnap went to the closet and pulled out as many extra blankets as possible, and Bad pointed to the bed on the east side of the room by the window.   
“This is the bed you’ll sleep in. Feel free to wake me up if you need anything.” Bad smiled. The room was dark, of course, so Bad’s glowing eyes illuminated his smile eerily. Tommy simply smiled tiredly back and sat down on the bed. Dream hopped off onto the pillow, then hopping off into his box, landing with a cushioned ‘poof!’. Bad hopped into his own bed on the other side of the room, and Sapnap just threw a bunch of blankets on the floor then crawled under all of them. You couldn’t even see Sapnap, it just looked like a pile of blankets. Finally laying down, Tommy looked to Dream’s box. He could see some drawings from the house taped to the walls of the box, and Dream cuddled up in a blanket inside. Tommy found it absolutely insane that Dream was four years older than him, but was cuter than a kitten. These thoughts didn’t last long, however, as Tommy drifted quickly off to sleep.   
\---------------------------  
“George, wake up.”   
“Five more minutes…”   
“Wake up, ya muffin, we have a guest!” Bad whisper shouted, shaking George awake. George groaned, sleepily pushing away Bad’s prodding hands.   
“Why do we have a guest, it so earlyyy…” George complained, shoving his head under his pillow.   
“It’s Ten in the morning! We all slept in! A blond kid named Tommy showed up at our door at 3 in the morning last night saying he was looking for Dream. That’s who’s in our house, George.” Bad nudged. George sat up in his bed quickly, looking Bad in the eyes.   
“You’re joking.” George deadpanned.  
“Shh! I’m not, look in the bed next to you, muffin head!” Bad whisper-shouted back. George looked to Sapnap’s bed and sure enough, there he was. The kid was sleeping peacefully with the pillow clutched over his face to avoid sunlight keeping him awake.   
“Holy shit,” George whispered.   
“Language. Sapnap and Dream are already downstairs, get moving.” Bad instructed, leaving the room. Upon entering the kitchen, Bad scanned the room. Dream was sitting on the table, as usual, and Sapnap was sitting in a chair next to him, still waking up. His head rested on the table next to Dream, headband pushed up against his forehead. Bad sat down silently across from Sapnap, simply taking in a deep breath and relaxing into his chair. It was quiet, a rarity in this house, and Bad decided he was going to relish it. Dream didn’t look tired at all, in fact, he almost looked anxious. He looked up towards the stairs every few minutes, as if Tommy was gonna come down any second. Bad noticed this.   
“Dream, calm down, he’s exhausted. I wouldn’t be surprised if he slept in till past noon.” Bad smiled, looking Dream in the eye.   
“He’s right little dude, chill.” Sapnap chimed in. Dream let out a breath, as if he’d been holding it, and looked down at the table instead. After another minute or two of silence, down came George, wearing another blue t-shirt and his goggles sitting upon his head, pushing his hair back like a headband.   
“Does anybody care to explain why Dream’s friend guy is here? What happened last night?” George asked, plopping down in his own chair next to Bad. Sapnap sat up.   
“Tommy was banging on the front door last night begging to be let in. I think he was being chased down by a couple of skeletons.” Bad explained.   
“Then I came downstairs because of the shouting,” Sapnap added. “When I mentioned that they were freaking Dream out, Tommy introduced himself and said he was looking for Dream. Coincidences, huh?” He laughed. Dream bonked Sapnap’s arm, giving him the best angry face he could muster. Which didn’t look that different from his happy, sad, and annoyed face, but Sapnap could tell Dream was mad that he basically said Dream was a scaredy-cat. “You were scared! You didn’t even want to get out of your box!” Sapnap accused. Dream shook his head and pointed a blob hand at Sapnap. “I was NOT scared! That was all you, dingus.” Dream continued to shake his head as the others laughed. They stayed like this at the table for another hour, figuring they should wait for Tommy to wake up and that the last bits of constructing the house could wait. Finally, the soft sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs hit everybody’s ears, causing everyone to turn and look at Tommy.   
“Good morning!” Bad smiled, patting the last empty chair on the other side of him.   
“Mornin’” Tommy responded awkwardly, sitting down next to Bad. Dream happily slid over to sit by Tommy, who in turn gave Dream a gentle pat on the head. Dream was thankful for this.   
“Sleep well?” Bad asked.   
“Like a baby.” Tommy chuckled. “Haven’t slept in a real bed in a week.”   
“So, you’re Tommy, huh?” George asked. “Where are the other two?”   
“George! Don’t be rude! I swear, it’s like neither of you thinks before you speak!” Bad frowned, glaring slightly at George.   
“It’s alright, they’re okay, I think.” Tommy cut off. “Wilbur’s taking care of Tubbo in the Desert. He sprained his ankle. But I didn’t know if Dream was just starving out there in his shoebox, so I went out to find him.” Tommy explained, his eyes looking down at his hands. “Thank you guys for taking care of my Lil bro.” Dream flashed him a look that screamed ‘I’m older than you!’   
“You are four inches tall. You’ll always be my little brother.” Tommy teased, smirking back at Dream.  
“We were actually planning on going out to look for you guys once the house was done.” Sapnap quipped.   
“Really?” Tommy asked, not truly believing it.   
“Well, sure!” George smiled. Least we could do for the cutest whittle blob in the world!” George teased, using a baby voice. Dream began to grumble, grabbing the pencil from last night and writing down on the same sheet of paper he used last night.   
‘You guys suck.’ was all that was written. The four boys laughed, Tommy enjoying getting to smile for the first time in a while. After they had all quieted down, Bad cleared his throat.   
“Hey, Uhm, I hate to kill the mood, but I really want to address something,” Bad asked seriously, getting everybody’s attention. “Okay, so for you two that don’t know,” Bad started, pointing at Tommy and Dream. “I have really sensitive hearing. And I may have accidentally overheard some of Tommy’s conversation with Dream last night.” Bad looked down at his twiddling thumbs for a moment before continuing. “What I’m trying to ask is, are you hiding something from us, Dream?” Bad asked nervously, as if he’d asked something potentially horrible. Dream looked down at the paper, thinking. Tommy glared at Bad.   
“Why were you eavesdropping?” Tommy asked.   
“It’s something I can’t control, I’m sorry! I know it’s not a good excuse and I tried to tune it out but I just heard you say something and I just want to help Dream.” Bad admit. Tommy sighed.   
“Dream, do you really want to write all that shit down, should I tell them, or do you want to pretend this conversation never happened? Your call, Big D.”  
“You really don’t have too, I’m sorry I asked, we can just move on-” Bad rambled. George cut him off, however.   
“I have had my suspicions,” George mumbled.   
“George!” Bad glared.   
“George’s right though, Bad. We’ve never seen anything like him before, he understands us and can write in fluent English, yet he can’t speak, and he’s somehow twenty years old, which is unnatural for something so small.” Sapnap argued.   
“He’s only been here for like a week! He doesn’t have to tell us anything!” Bad argued back.   
“Well, you’re the one who asked the question, Bad,” George added.   
“Will you all shut it!?” Tommy shouted over everyone, glaring at everyone on the table. “Listen to me, you ask the blob a question and don’t even let him answer before arguing, damn!” He nodded towards what Dream had written while everybody had been fighting. 

‘I was cursed when I was 15 years old.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any theories in the chat? :D


	5. Hey, brother!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried putting spaces between paragraphs so the fic seems less crowded. Let me know if it's any better! Please bear with me I'm new to A03

Everybody sat in silence, taking in what Dream had written down. Everyone except for Tommy, of course, who already knew the details of Dream’s curse along with his brothers. Bad was the first to speak.   
“Well, at least I’m not the only cursed one in the house.” He joked in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood. Nobody laughed, however. 

“What kind of curse are we talking about here?” George asked. 

“What do you mean?” Tommy tilted his head slightly. 

“Is it a curse that can be broken, a curse that’s deadly, a curse that gives him special abilities, I dunno, stuff like that.” George elaborated.   
Tommy looked to Dream, who just nodded his head. No way he was going to write all that shit down with his messy handwriting, it was too complicated. Tommy had practically memorized the page from when he’d written down the details of his curse to his brothers about a year ago, the same fateful day that the three brothers swore to help Dream break that very curse. Taking in a deep breath, Tommy collected his thoughts. 

“Okay. So, from what Dream has told me, he was cursed when he was fifteen. He’s lived with us for about three years, but I’ve got no clue what he’d been doing during the first year he was cursed, though.” He started, looking at each of the other guys in the eyes. “He used to be human, like us, but was kidnapped by a witch at some point, which led him to be cursed. The witch decided to curse him for shits and giggles, I guess, because this is what she turned Dream into!” Tommy growled, getting riled up just thinking about how insane it was. 

“You’re serious?! That’s pretty messed up.” Sapnap glared, not towards anyone in particular, but just at what he was hearing. 

“Oh, it gets worse. This curse that she put on him not only made him like this,” Tommy gestured, referencing Dream’s small size and strange appearance. “It also took away his ability to talk and his ability to express emotions physically. He’s fragile and defenseless to any creatures that may try to eat or step on him and the witch never told him the cure.” Tommy sighed. “We’ve tried every potion in the book, nothing works, and we’re running out of time.” 

“Running out of time?” George asked, trying not to fear the worst. Bad looked worriedly back and forth to Dream and Tommy. Tommy sighed, he obviously didn’t want to admit whatever it was but he didn’t really have a choice at this point. 

“As the curse progresses, he starts turning into some sort of statue. Back when he first moved in with us, his blob-hands could be used to throw himself around the house because he was more elastic. Now he struggles climbing onto and over things because his entire body has started to stiffen into place. And once he’s completely solid, there’s probably no turning back.” Tommy looked down sadly. He hated everything about this. All three of the other men were stunned, George’s mouth hanging open slightly. 

“We’ve been trying to hunt down the witch that did this to him, all we know is that he used to live in a plains biome, which there happens to be two in the closest plains area. He’s small, he couldn’t have traveled far from his original village.” Tommy finished, leaving the room in uncomfortable silence, suffocating the room and leaving the five with nothing. George looked to Dream. He was looking down blankly at the table, probably thinking. Dream was hard to read, but it was obvious he was tired of being like this. Bad broke the silence. 

“Is there a deadline?” Bad asked quietly. 

“Yeah. He has until his 21rst birthday.” Tommy replied grimly. 

“And when is that?” Bad braced himself for a date as close as next week. 

“August 12th. 10 months.” Bad let out a breath he’d been holding. 

“Well, that’s not a long time, but it’s longer than what I thought you were going to say…” Bad sighed, trying to find a bright side. 

“How do you know all this?” Sapnap asked skeptically. Dream wrote down the answer to this one. 

‘Witches' code or something, is what she said. If you curse someone, you have to tell them their conditions to that curse.’ 

“She told you the conditions of the curse but not how to break it? What an ass.” George growled.

“Language,” Bad muttered half-heartedly. More silence followed. Finally, George stood up from his chair, catching everyone’s attention. 

“What the hell are we waiting for?” George asked. “Let’s find the other two, Wilbur and Tubbo, right? Let's find them and go on a quest. A quest to break Dream’s curse. I dunno about you guys, but I’m not just going to sit here and wait for a solution to pop up.” 

“I like the way you think, Gogy,” Tommy smirked, getting up as well. George rolled his eyes at the nickname but said nothing. Bad and Sapnap both got up at the same time, smirking like a bunch of idiots.  
“Alright, the house can wait. It’s mostly done already anyway.” Sapnap added. 

“I bet we can leave by this afternoon. If, of course, you’re alright with it, Dream.” Bad quipped. Dream looked up at his friends and family that surrounded him, his blank expression shifting into a shocked-but-happy one. He picked up his pencil once again and messily wrote down his response. 

‘You all are fucking crazy. Please, god yes. I want so desperately to be tall.’ Dream seemed like he was trying to joke, but the tears in his beady eyes and the way his blob-hands shook as he wrote spoke all the real words for him. 

‘Thank you so much.’ 

“You know what, I won’t even correct you for language.” Bad laughed.

“We’re wasting time. Everyone, pack what you need. You know the drill, pack light, pack what you need, and pack fast. We’re getting to that desert Tommy was talking about as fast as possible. Tommy, what do you have?” George asked, taking the lead. 

“I had a bag, but I lost it around here while I was being chased down.” Tommy shrugged. 

“Okay, I’ll help find it, and then I’ll pack real quick when we get back. Let’s go.” George responded. Tommy nodded, quickly following George out of the house. After a quick jog through the woods in the general direction of where Tommy came from, the pair found the bag knocked over and half-spilled all over the ground. George picked up the scattered items and handed them to Tommy, who made haste of brushing dirt off of things and shoving them back into the bag. Once everything was back in order, George and Tommy speed-walked back to the house, which was now almost completely built except for some internal works. The walls and roof of the house were up, and fire dangers had already been removed. They could easily leave and come back to finish when they were done. After a quick rundown with Tommy about having everything he needed, he brought him down to the basement, where Bad and Sapnap were pulling on armor. 

“Hey, you guys, get this child a weapon, I need to pack my things,” George ordered before leaving. 

“I’m not a child!” Tommy argued. Sapnap laughed and approached Tommy. 

“You went out this long without a weapon? Child’s mistake.” He teased, digging through a nearby chest for iron.

“I had an ax, it broke,” Tommy grumbled. Grabbing six pieces of iron and four sticks, Sapnap made Tommy the essential pickaxe and ax for protection and mining, if they needed to mine. The pickaxe was also a good backup weapon.

“Thanks, man.” Tommy smiled, keeping the ax by his side and the pickaxe in his bag. Tommy didn’t have armor, so Bad dug through the chests till he found an old chest plate. It had seen a few battles, but other than a dent or two the chest plate looked pretty good. Bad and Sapnap also helped Tommy pack some extra necessities for Wilbur and Tubbo, who were struggling to stretch out supplies when Tommy left. He hoped that him leaving helped them stretch out food and water more. 

Now with armor, good weapons, and bags packed, the last thing they needed to figure out was how they were going to take Dream with them. Sure he could ride on someone’s head or shoulder, but what about at night, or when a battle begins between person and monster? The group gathered at the table once more, all standing around Dream and throwing around suggestions.   
“We could bring the shoebox, I’ll tie it to my bag,” George suggested. 

“That could work, but do you really want that extra weight?” Bad questioned in return. 

“It’s not that heavy, is it?” George asked. Sapnap shrugged. 

“Whatever blanket or sweater we put inside would be the only extra weight, I think,” Sapnap added. 

Tommy stepped up. “My bag’s the lightest, I’ll carry Dream’s box and Dream. I got it.” 

“If that’s what you want to do Tommy, then go ahead, but what does Dream want?” Bad reminded everyone. They all looked to Dream, who was still sitting at the table with a pencil in his hands. Dream wrote down his response. 

‘I don’t care how you guys carry me. But can we bring a book and a pencil so I can still talk to you guys?’ 

Bad smiled sweetly. “Way ahead of ya, I put a blank book and two pencils in here for ya,” Bad said proudly. Dream seemed to perk up at this, nodding in gratitude. 

“With that, are we ready to go?” George asked. Everybody shared a collective nod. “Alright! Tommy, you lead us to your brothers, then we’ll figure out what to do from there.” George instructed, making sure the plan was clear. When everybody nodded, Tommy picked up Dream, set him upon his head, and led the way through the forest. The storm from three days ago had completely passed, leaving light cloud cover and a damp atmosphere that sent shivers down their spines. The five quietly made their way past Dream and Tommy’s village, ignoring the sounds of groaning villagers that hadn’t escaped the disaster. Sometimes they would joke or explore on their way through the spruce woods, but the thrill of setting out on their adventure left them mostly quiet. They walked for a few more hours into the late afternoon before finally exiting the spruce woods, noticing the grass beginning to turn from a dark mossy green to a lighter limey green as a plains biome came into view. It was sunnier here, yet the chill of the spruce woods didn’t disappear. As Tommy led the group along the edge of the plains, the sun began to set on another eventful day. 

“We should set up camp for the night before mobs come out,” Bad announced, breaking the silence for the first time in several hours. The others nodded in agreement but didn’t do much of anything.   
“Where should we set up camp then? We can’t just lay out in the open.” Tommy said, looking around. Sapnap climbed up a small hill to get a vantage point and looked out along the edge of the Plains biome that half collided with the Taiga biome behind him, and half collided with a giant hill biome to his right. The different Biomes clashed in a strange way that wasn’t abnormal to see, but Sapnap still found it super cool looking. Towards the bottom of the nearest hill, there was an entrance to a cave. 

“There’s a cave over there, we can take shelter there,” Sapnap announced, pointing towards the said cave. 

“Lead us there, then,” George said tiredly, nodding his head in the cave’s direction. Sapnap nodded in return, and led the way to the cave, which was a short five-minute walk from where they had stood. Once inside the cave, the group settled for the night, setting up torches, laying out bedrolls, and starting a campfire. The boys joked and laughed at each other lightly, happy to be on the road again. Except for Tommy, who was deep in his thoughts. This was unusual for the normally loud and rambunctious teen, and Dream, of course, noticed. Once Tommy had sat down, Dream slid from Tommy’s head to his shoulder, then down to his lap, then onto the dirt. Dream tripped over on Tommy’s knee on the way down, causing him to fall flat on his face. 

“Dream, you okay?” Tommy asked, helping the blob back up with his hand. Dream nodded, then bonked Tommy on the knee a few times. Tommy raised an eyebrow. “What?” 

Dream pointed at Tommy, squinting his eyes. “Am I okay? Is that what you’re asking?” Tommy guessed. Dream nodded again. 

“I’m fine, Dream. Just thinking about how much Wilbur’s going to yell at me when we get back.” Tommy sighed. Dream rested his head on Tommy’s knee sympathetically. “You’re lucky you’re tiny and adorable, you don’t get yelled at.” Tommy grumbled. Dream snickered, raising his head off of Tommy’s knee and looking up at him. 

Bad sat down next to Dream and Tommy, staring into the campfire. “How much longer till we get to your brothers?” He asked, looking at the blond. Tommy shrugged. 

“We could’ve gotten there by tonight if we hadn’t left so late. The reason it took me two days to crash into your house was that the first day was for travel, the second was just wandering through the woods, hoping I’d run into Dream. So I’d say, if we leave early tomorrow morning, we could get there around noon.” Tommy explained. Bad nodded his head. 

“Where do you think we should head from there?” Bad asked. 

“I’m not sure. The night of the horde invading my village was the same night we were going to interrogate Dream about his biological home life. It was very convenient.” Tommy sighed.   
“Why would you need to interrogate him about his home life?” Bad asked. 

“According to what I know, Dream was taken from his home to a witch hideout not too far from it.” Tommy explained. “If we find his village, we can find the hideout, we find the hideout, we find the witch who cursed him. And if we find her…” Tommy looked at Dream. “We find out how to break his curse.” 

“Maybe we could find Dream’s biological family,” Bad suggested. Dream seemed to straighten at this, but whether it was a positive or negative reaction was unclear. 

“I think we should wait until we cure him for that, but whatever Dream wants to do, I’ll go with it. It’s his family after all.” Dream looked up at Tommy, then to Bad, moving his head back and forth between the two as they talked. Dream agreed with Tommy, mostly. There was one person that he wanted to know that he was alive first though, if possible. 

Sapnap sat down next to Bad, George completing the campfire circle moments later. They made small talk about mundane things for the rest of the night, even Dream chiming in with written messages, then eating a small dinner and heading to bed early. They all had a long day ahead of them tomorrow. Dream’s shoebox was put next to Tommy’s bedroll. The night was quiet and mobs left them undisturbed as the four boys fell peacefully asleep. Well, as peacefully as you can when you’re pumped for the next day already.   
Everyone woke up early the next morning, some by force, and they quickly got everything packed up and left the cave by seven. George yawned sleepily as the group set off, Tommy leading the way to where he left Wilbur and Tubbo. The taiga biome too far away to see on the horizon, the group continued to walk along the border of the giant hill and plains biomes. After a few hours of walking, Tommy smiled, furrowing his brows together determinedly. 

“There’s the desert!” Tommy cheered, looking behind him. Sapnap’s eyes widened in excitement and ran up to Tommy to get a better look. Sure enough, there it was. Just a few miles away, the beginning of the sandy wasteland was creeping into view. The group picked up the pace, Dream holding on lightly to Tommy’s hair, as they approached the desert. It was about eleven am when they reached the sand.   
“It’s about another hour’s walk away from here!” Tommy announced, not slowing down for even a second. The others continued to follow, eager to meet and help Tommy’s brothers. Tommy was exhausted, having traveled like this for a week and a day now, but he was driven by his need to make sure Tubbo and Wilbur were okay, and to let them know that he himself was okay. The hour-long walk to the shack passed quickly. The very second the sandstone shack came into Tommy’s view, he barely mumbled a “hold on.” to Dream before breaking out into a sprint.   
“Wilbur! Tubbo! Guys!!! I’m back!!” Tommy shouted at the top of his lungs. The others jogged, slowing down once they noticed where Tommy was heading. A tall man with the messiest curly brown hair anyone’s ever seen, wire-frame glasses, and a red sweater with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows stepped out of the shack frantically. 

“Tommy?!” The man shouted, running towards Tommy at a record speed before the two clashed in a big hug. Dream was very nearly knocked off, but managed to cling on with an annoyed chirp. The man let go of Tommy upon hearing the chirp, and grinned even wider at the sight of Dream. “Dream! You’re okay!” He cheered. “You both are!” 

“Told you I could handle myself.” Tommy joked, poking the taller man in the ribs. 

“You dumbass, you could’ve gotten killed! ‘I’m gonna find Dream, be back in a few days,’ was the most bullshit letter you’ve ever written! And actually, it looks like you’ve got a whole fuckin’ army behind ya!”   
“Hey hey, not true, I found Dream by myself, and I was back in a few days, you don’t have shit on me,” Tommy argued. 

“Tommy?” Another familiar voice asked. A shorter young boy with straight brown hair came limping steadily out of the shack, with a green t-shirt and soulful brown eyes. 

“TUBBO!!” Tommy ran to his other slightly older brother, tackling him in a hug. The taller man scooped Dream off of Tommy’s head as he ran so that Dream wouldn’t fall off and get hurt. 

Sapnap, George, and Bad hung back a little so that the three brothers could have their moment, but the tall man approached them, Dream in his hands. 

“Who are you guys?” He asked, scanning the three strangers with his eyes. 

“I’m George Notfound, this is Darryl Halo, or Bad, and Sapnap. Just Sapnap.” George introduced, pointing towards said people. 

“Sup.” Sapnap nodded.

“Hello! Please, call me Bad.” Bad smiled.

“And you are?” George continued. 

“Name’s Wilbur Soot. A pleasure to meet you as well.” Wilbur smiled tiredly, looking down at Dream for a moment before looking back at the trio in front of him. “How’d you bump into Tommy and Dream?” Wilbur asked.

“I found Dream alone in a box outside your village,” George explained. “I took him home, and we helped him get his stuff from your house. Sorry for breaking in by the way, but the door was wide open…”   
Wilbur laughed. “It’s alright, thanks for taking care of Dream. I trust that they didn’t treat you like an animal?” Wilbur joked to Dream, who snickered in response.

“We met Tommy in a not so peaceful way…” Bad added. 

“I’m not surprised.” 

“He was being chased down by a group of skeletons with no armor or a weapon.” Bad continued. “He came slamming his fist on our door at three in the morning, so we let him in.” 

Wilbur’s face fell a little, but it didn’t last long. “I’m really grateful you all came to help out Tommy and Dream. It means a lot.” he smiled, observing the trio for a few seconds. “But I do have to ask, why are you all ready to hike for weeks instead of mere days, you all look pretty packed there.” 

“Oh, there’s the other thing,” Sapnap said, smiling. “Dream and Tommy told us about Dream’s curse. We want to help break it.” Wilbur’s eyes widened at this statement, looking down at Dream expectantly. Dream nodded, giving a happy chirp as a confirmation. Wilbur smiled even wider, if it were possible, and looked to the trio once again. 

“Really? You want to help us?” He asked, just to be sure. 

“Hell yeah!” Sapnap replied. 

“Language, but of course! Dream has become our friend over this last week, and we couldn’t just do nothing!” Bad added. 

“Yeah, what they said!” George chuckled. 

“Real creative, George.” Sapnap poked. 

“Hey! I’m not good at words!” George argued, poking him back. 

“You two, stop! First impressions are important!” Bad quipped, gesturing to Wilbur, who just laughed. 

“Come into the shack, I’ll introduce you to Tubbo, then we’ll see where we’re at.” Tommy was inside already, sitting on the ground with Tubbo as they talked about Tommy’s travels.   
“-and then I came in all brave like, chopping off the mob’s heads and totally saving those guys! They were so scared!” 

“The way I heard, you came knocking at our door wetting your pants because of a skeleton.” Sapnap cut Tommy off, smirking widely as Tubbo laughed the hardest he’s laughed in days. 

“You lying bitch!” 

Sapnap scoffed. “Hypocrite! You didn’t even have a weapon when you came in, don’t act like the big hero.” 

“Language, Tommy.” Bad chimed in. The shack itself was actually quite bigger on the inside, as Wilbur had dug out a portion of it into the rocky dune to expand. Tubbo was a bit claustrophobic, and Wilbur had too much free time. It was a good thing he did too, otherwise, the total of six people, seven including Dream, would be even more cramped in the building than it already was. Dream sat on Wilbur’s knee once he sat down next to Tommy, who was in turn still playfully arguing with Sapnap. Wilbur introduced everybody to Tubbo, so Tubbo introduced himself.

“Hello, I’m Toby, but you can call me Tubbo, I like bees, and my favorite color is green!” Tubbo smiled. 

“Tubbo, this isn’t a middle school ice-breaker game.” Tommy chuckled. 

“Too bad, now they know a bit about me, and I know absolutely nothing about them! It’s cool beanz!” Tubbo smiled, proud of himself. Tommy facepalmed, snickering and shaking his head. “So, why are you guys here, anyway?” Tubbo asked. 

“We’re gonna help break blob boy’s curse,” Sapnap smirked, nodding his head towards Dream. After another explanation of the past events, everybody was caught up and ready to move on.   
“So, now that we’re all on the same page…” Bad started. “Where are we going to go from here?” 

“We can’t really go anywhere till Tubbo’s foot is better.” Tommy reminded. 

“How long till you think you can walk, Tubbo?” George asked. 

“It’s feeling better, I’d say another day and I’d be fine,” Tubbo responded. 

“Well, since we can’t travel, then why don’t we ask Dream about where he used to live?” Sapnap asked. “That’s what Tommy said to Bad what y’all were gonna do, right?”   
Tommy and Wilbur both nodded. 

“That’s what we were going to do the night the horde wrecked everything.” Wilbur huffed. 

“Well, what do you say, Dream? Wanna tell us your backstory?” Tubbo asked. Bad got out the book and a pencil and laid it open on a fresh page for Dream in the center of the circle that the group sat in. Dream hopped off Wilbur’s knee, this time not falling on his face, and waddled over to the pencil. 

‘What do you guys want to know?’ Dream wrote down.

“Well, maybe we’ll start with where the village is terrain wise and does your village have a name?” Bad asked. Dream thought for a moment before responding. 

‘I lived in a large village in a plains biome, known simply as ‘The SMP.’ you guys probably know it as the festival city because that’s where the huge culture fest is.’ 

George’s eyes widened. “You lived in the festival city? That’s where Bad, Sapnap, and I met!” George exclaimed. “I know where that is by heart, it’s west of here, I believe.” George pulled out a map from his pack and studied it. 

“What’s the culture festival?” Tommy asked. 

“It’s this huge festival held by The SMP.” Sapnap explained. “Every year, they invite every village possible to share their culture at the ‘Culture Fest’. People from hundreds of villages would gather there, it’s insane.” 

“The last festival was just a few months ago, we met up there to move into a new house together afterward. What a blast.” Bad reminisced. 

“Focus, guys.” Wilbur reminded. “Dream, what do you remember from the night you were cursed?” 

Dream grimaced internally, not wanting to dive into that dumpster fire of memories, but he knew that they should know as much as possible in order to get the best results quickest. Hands slightly trembling, he recalled the night on paper. 

‘I was fifteen. Two days after the festival, there was a huge raid. Pillagers, Illagers, Evokers, Witches, you name it. They had a few outposts just outside the plains, and some hideout where the witches gathered hidden somewhere. They were physically attacking and harassing people. Witches broke into our house, so my sister and I hid under the table. I tried to protect her. The table was a terrible hiding spot though, cause a witch found us so I attacked her. I don’t even know what happened to my sister afterward, she ran off to hide while I distracted the witches. Trying to beat one up was a mistake though, cause they knocked me out with a splash potion and took me away. When I wake up, I’m in a cell, alone. One of the witches that I made fun of comes in, and curses me to look like this. I afterward escaped through the cat door into the dark oak forest. I was too small and too lost to find my way back home. I haven’t seen the place in almost five years, now.’ 

Dream, of course, left out a lot of traumatizing details, but the important parts were there. The witch hideout was somewhere near the border of the Plains and Dark oak biomes, his home town was very large, and the witches were powerful enough to keep Dream locked up and knocked out. The group thought over this new information for a moment. Not only did they all learn something new about Dream, they all knew where the town was and that he may have family there. Progress. 

Dream watched his vision got blurry as a few tears hit the page of the journal. He longed to be back home, he longed for a hug from his mother and would kill for a reassuring pat on the back from his dad. He missed the petty arguments he’d have with his sister, he swore he was going to hug the crap out of her when he saw her next, blob or human. 

“Are you alright, Dream?” Bad asked quietly. Dream nodded, hoping somebody would change the subject. Everybody looked at each other awkwardly for a moment, wondering what they should ask next.   
“What did you look like as a human?” George asked curiously, as if reading Dream’s mind. Dream, in turn, seemed to like this question better, wiping his eyes clear and writing down his response. 

‘I was tall, according to my mom, I had blonde hair, and I think my eyes were green.’ 

“You think your eyes were green?” Tommy questioned. 

‘I never really looked in a mirror much. I honestly don’t remember what I used to look like that well.’ 

A pause. 

“Dream…” Wilbur frowned. “How much do you remember of your life before this?” Dream looked down at his writing, not making eye contact with anyone. 

‘I remember my family, the raid, the night I was cursed, and a few other random memories. That’s about it.’ 

There was an uncomfortable silence that fell over the room. 

“You said you had a sister, right?” Tubbo asked. “What was she like?” Dream smiled sadly at the thought of his sister. 

‘She was nine when I last saw her. Long blonde hair and an attitude that could make a grown man cry. Her name is Drista.’ 

“She sounds nice!” Tubbo smiled. 

“What part of ‘could make a grown man cry’ did you not understand in that sentence, Tubbo?” Tommy laughed, lightly knocking his brother on the shoulder.

“What do you think about finding your family when we get to your village?” Bad asked gently. 

“I still think we should wait until we cure him to find his family,” Tommy mumbled. 

“I’m not sure about that.” Tubbo interrupted. “Wouldn’t you want to let us know you were alive if you went missing for five years?” 

“I would wait till I got cured of the curse so you guys wouldn’t have to see me like that,” Tommy argued. 

“Well, then it’s a good thing Bad didn’t ask either of you, huh?” Wilbur frowned at the other two. Tommy and Tubbo fell silent, looking to Dream, who had already written his answer.

‘I want to write them a letter. Let them know I’m alive and might be home soon. I don’t want them to see me like this, but I want to give them hope that I might come back.' 

“You mean that you will come back, right? Don’t think like that, man.” Sapnap replied.

Tommy and Tubbo both seemed to agree with Dream’s choice. Dream didn’t respond either way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any theories in the chat? Feed an author!


	6. The SMP

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who catches the random reference thrown in here gets an o7 from me

The next few days were spent letting Tommy and Tubbo rest and getting supplies for the journey ahead. Dream mostly stayed with Tommy and Tubbo, knowing too well about the dangers of the desert. He didn’t move in with Wilbur, Tommy, and Tubbo for no reason. 

George and Bad mined and smelted loads of iron, Wilbur and Sapnap hunted for food and scavenged for whatever they could find. By the second day, they already had enough food and iron to last them well into staying at The SMP. The first night was quiet, though the second night was a different story. 

“Hey, since we’re going to the SMP, you should tell the story on how we met, Bad,” Sapnap suggested. 

“Yes!” George fist pumped. 

“That sounds interesting.” Wilbur raised an eyebrow. “You guys are a curious trio.” 

“Ooh, I love stories!” Tubbo smiled. 

“Oh, well now I have to tell it, okay.” Bad laughed, shifting where he was sitting. “So, we were all kids, and for me, my parents took me there for my first festival.” he began. “It was nighttime, and the festival was booming loud, and super crowded, and I ended up losing my parents. So, I did what any fifteen-year-old would do, and cried.” 

“Pffft-”

“Shush George, I was a sensitive teenager.” Bad rolled his eyes. “Anyway, so I was crying, and that’s when George and Sapnap approached me.” 

“Sapnap and I met at a candy shop thing, and we’d been hanging out the entire day,” George added. 

“Yeah,” Bad confirmed. “But they helped me find my parents, and we became friends, us three, and hung out for the rest of the festival.” 

“Wait, wasn’t there another kid?” Sapnap tilted his head. “Don’t you guys remember the Local that showed us around the next day? We told him to write but he never did.” 

“Oh yeah!!!” Bad nodded. “The next day of the festival, this kid who was a local showed us all the shortcuts and best food stops.” 

“What was his name? Do you remember?” Sapnap asked, scratching his head. 

“I have no idea.” George scrunched up his face in thought. 

“I dunno either.” Bad smiled. Dream froze a little in his spot, his mind going a million miles an hour. There’s no way the world was this goddamn small. Wilbur looked to Dream, who looked visibly confused and shocked. 

“...You doin’ okay Dream?” Wilbur raised an eyebrow. Dream nodded his head. 

‘Sorry, I was just thinking about the last time I went to a festival. I tell you guys later when I can talk.’ Dream wrote. He decided to keep this information to himself for now. 

“Man, what happened to that guy? He was cool.” Sapnap sighed. George blinked a few times. 

“Hey, I think I might know, actually,” George said. 

“Wait, seriously?” Bad sat up a little straighter in his seat, curious. 

“Yeah.” George nodded. “While I was waiting for you two to show up by that massive board thing, there was this missing poster for a kid. I asked a local about it, and they said that the poster’s been up there for years. I don’t remember the name, but it could’ve been him.” George shrugged. They continued to talk about the subject, Dream uncomfortably listening. 

Soon after that, they were all laying down for the night. 

Dream couldn’t sleep, however. After a few failed attempts, he climbed out of his box and towards the pencil and paper left from the conversation he had with everyone earlier that night. Flipping the book to a fresh page, he drafted down some words. 

‘Hey family,’ no, that doesn’t sound right. ‘Dear mom, dad, and Drista.’ a little better. 

“Dream?” a sleepy British voice called out. Dream froze, turning to face his blue-loving companion. “What are you doing awake?” George whispered, crawling over to see what Dream was writing. After reading it over, he seemed to back off. “Oh, I see. If you want I could leave you alone.” 

‘No. you can stay. I need help figuring out what to write anyway.’ Dream wrote on a separate page. George smiled. 

“Alright.” 

The next day, they left for the SMP, this time George leading the way with his map. It was about a half day’s travel west from where they were, just outside the desert and stretching out into the massive plains biome the group had touched earlier. The walk to the SMP wasn’t as quiet as the walk to the desert, though it was slower due to Tubbo’s slight limp. Tommy and Tubbo were often talking, joking around and occasionally making fun of the others. Dream sat on George’s head this time, happy to be near his friend. The desert, while they walked through it during the early morning, was pleasantly cool, but it would grow hotter if they didn’t get out of the desert earlier. The cooler autumn air of the plains began to hit as the group exited the desert at around 12pm. 

“YES!” Tubbo exclaimed, limp-running into the grass and flopping down onto it. “Oh, how I’ve missed you, grass!” Tommy laughed, jokingly flopping onto the grass too. 

“Ah yes, grass,” Tommy said sarcastically. Dream snickered as Wilbur began to urge them to get up so they could keep moving, but it was obvious he enjoyed seeing his brothers laugh. After the group had their moment, Tommy and Tubbo got up, and it wasn’t long before they reached the outskirts of the massive village that was the SMP. Dream definitely looked excited, bouncing a little on George’s head. 

“Let’s find a place to stay, like an Inn or something, then we’ll explore the town and ask around about witches and stuff,” Tommy suggested. The group agreed, not wanting to carry their packs any longer. After checking in at an Inn close to the center of town, The group collected at a massive billboard near the center of town. The billboard was old, judging by the massive amount of hole littered across the corkboard, and absolutely covered in fliers. Old missing posters, fliers for jobs, and some of it just little kid’s art tacked up there for people to go ‘aww’ at. George pointed out a certain poster. 

“Guys, this is the one I was talking about.” He nodded. Tommy looked closely at the faded image of a blonde kid with green eyes. The kid’s name was Clay Anderson, and he had a reward of 5,000 emeralds if found. 

“Huh.” Tommy shrugged.

“Hope he’s out there somewhere,” Tubbo added casually, moving on to look at other posters. Dream avoided looking at the poster, but of course, George had to say something about it.

“Hey Dream, you used to live here right? Did you ever know him?” George asked. Dream let out a chirp that meant ‘no’, and left it at that. 

“Huh.” George hummed, finally moving on to look around at the other posters. 

“What exactly are we looking for?” Sapnap asked, scanning his eyes across the board. 

“I dunno, anything about witches or pillagers or something.” Wilbur shrugged, looking around. 

“You guys don’t wanna fuck with the witches here.” A female voice sounded from behind them. The group turned around, the girl being closest to Wilbur and Sapnap. 

“Uh, yeah we do. We want to fuck up some witches for information.” Tommy smirked. 

“Tommy! Language!” Bad scolded. 

“What? So she gets to swear but I can’t?” Tommy argued. 

“She’s not somebody I have to watch over!” Bad argued back.

“Guys, can you not?” George glared, approaching the girl. She looked pretty young, had long blonde hair with a black headband, a black t-shirt with an open red zip-up hoodie over it, and a pair of ripped jeans with black boots on her feet. Her eyes were a sharp green and her face was stoic with a light dusting of freckles. 

Wilbur sighed. “We’re looking for a witch that cursed our friend, we know that she lives in the witch hideout somewhere around here, do you know where that might be?” Will asked. 

“I don’t know where it is, I’m not stupid enough to go looking for a needle in a haystack. But if you really want to go I’m sure the cleric knows where it is.” She shrugged, pointing her thumb to her left. “I can take you to the cleric building if you want.” She offered. Tommy rolled his eyes. 

“No, we’re fi-” 

“Sure, we’d appreciate that.” Bad smiled, elbowing Tommy. Tubbo giggled as Tommy huffed. As they walked, Dream began to hide himself, curling in as far as he could into the small amount of poof George's hair had. Much to Dream’s disappointment, George got up closer to the girl, walking next to her instead of behind. 

“I’m George, what’s your name?” He asked curiously. 

“Drista.” She answered, not looking at him, instead, her eyes flickered curiously to Dream for a moment before turning her head forward. “Nice hat, by the way.” George’s breath hitched, backing up a bit.   
“Thanks.” Was all he responded with as he backed up to where Wilbur followed. “Will, did you hear that? Am I going crazy?” George whispered to Wilbur. 

“What did she say?” Wilbur asked. 

“She said her name was Drista.”

“Oh, shit, are you serious?” Wilbur whipped his head around to look at George. 

“How common is the name ‘Drista’??” George asked.

“I can hear you talking about me back there, pretty boy.” Drista piped up. George shut his open mouth, face turning red in embarrassment. Dream, despite being nervous, began to snicker. George just got roasted by his 14-year-old sister. “Here we are!” Drista smirked, approaching a big stone building with stained glass windows. “Have fun getting cursed, dumbasses.” She said, turning around and walking into the crowd.

“Well, that was interesting. Was that seriously Dream’s sister?” Tommy laughed awkwardly. 

“Was it, Dream?” George asked. Dream slowly nodded his head, but clearly didn’t want to talk about it. The group took the hint and stepped inside the grand stone building. Inside was sort of like a church, but there wasn’t really anything to worship here. It was more like a gathering place for people to appreciate and have faith in one another. At least, that’s how Dream remembered it, and it didn’t look like much had changed in the old building. An older looking man approached the group. He had black hair with grey streaks, a clean but slightly wrinkled face, and a purple robe-like outfit with gold accents. 

“Hello, travelers.” He spoke, his voice level and calm. “How may I help you today?” 

“How did you know we were travelers?” George asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“I know lost people when I see them.” He replied simply. 

“What’s your name?” Wilbur asked. 

“Dazeem.” He answers. Dream refrains from snickering, but a few giggles escape his mouth anyway. Tommy is having a similar reaction. 

“Can I call you Daisy?” Tubbo asks, smiling. 

“Absolutely not.” Dazeem glared. 

“How can I help you today?” Dazeem repeats, looking to Wilbur. 

“We’re looking for a witch, we’re trying to cure our friend,” Wilbur responds, gesturing to Dream, who's still sitting on George’s head. Dream waves at Dazeem, his derpy smile making the interaction silly. “Do you know where the witch hideout is?” 

“I do. But can I trust you with that information? It’s not that it’s a big secret, I don’t want blood on my hands. That place is incredibly dangerous.” 

“Well…” Bad stepped up. “Witches harm you with potions and curses, right? I’ll go in there with Dream, and we’ll have splash potions and milk ready when we go in.” He suggested. “That way, we won’t have anybody else cursed, and we can get what we need and come back out. It doesn’t have to be violent either. We can just go talk to the witches.” Dream began to shake at the thought of going back to that horrid place. George took notice of this first, feeling his friend tremble. 

“That could work, but I don’t think Dream wants to go.” George said worriedly, taking his friend off of his head and into his hands. Everybody gave Dream worried looks, except for Dazeem, who looked towards Dream with a stoic expression. 

“Then I’ll go in by myself,” Bad stated. 

“Bad, wait a minute,” Sapnap interjected. “Do you know how dangerous that is? With no backup? Even with Dream, that’s a terrible plan.” 

“Well, I don’t want any of you getting cursed! We don’t need that extra burden right now! I’m already cursed, so I’ll just bring some milk and a shield and talk my way out of it! It’s not that hard to come up with a solution!” 

“It’s a solution, but a terrible one. You’d be alone. We don’t know how hostile the witches will be. You could die and nobody’d be there to help you.” Sapnap growled. Dazeem sighed, moving to a bookshelf and pulling out an old-looking book with a leather bind. Opening to a specific page, he showed the group a map of the plains and nearby Biomes, with all sorts of things labeled. Including the witch base up north. 

“Whatever you do, make sure you don’t do it at night.” Was all Dazeem said before leaving to do his work. George marked the place down on his map, then the group silently left.

“Let’s all take a moment to think over what we can do,” George suggested, taking the role of the leader for the moment as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why don’t we split up? Ask around, see what shops are here, what we can trade for, get some emeralds, stuff like that. We’ll meet back up at the inn tonight, and we’ll talk about what we’re going to do with the witch hideout or whatever.” There was a collective agreement from the group before splitting off. Bad and Wilbur, George and Dream, Tommy, Tubbo, and Sapnap. 

Bad and Wilbur talked about their experience of being the mom friend of each of their groups while working on trading for emeralds. Tommy, Tubbo, and Sapnap mostly just walked around and looked at shops to see what the locals traded. George tried to cheer up Dream, figuring out what he likes and where he wanted to go specifically. George could tell the last two weeks had been rough for Dream. From what George could tell, it’s been finding out no publicly available potion could cure his curse, losing his family, moving in with a new one, setting of on an out of nowhere trip to help him, during which he was being asked often about his trauma and curse at the place where he grew up and lost his family, and was just told he may have to go back to the place that was the source of all this trauma. Not a fun time. 

Once George and Dream had separated from the group, he sighed, looking down at the not-so-happy Dream in his hands. George was right, Dream felt like emotional trash. Happy times flip-flopped to uncomfortably emotional times often, and he felt emotionally exhausted. George turned Dream to look at him in his hands. 

“Okay Dream. I know these last two weeks have been garbage for you. Absolute trash. But, it will get better soon. We’re going to cure your curse and get you back on your feet. Until then though, I want to do whatever you want to do for today, okay? I want to cheer you up. So, is there anywhere you want to go? Or, if you just want to go back to the inn, that’s okay too.” George laid the options down in front of Dream, making it easy for him to choose. “Should I get out the book?” George asked, after a moment of silence. Dream nodded. George looked around, finally finding an empty public bench nearby and sitting down at it. George and his roommates each own a backpack for distance traveling, but the trio collectively decided to bring a satchel around with Dream’s book and pencils in it that they could carry with them everywhere. It was also a good emergency spot in case they ever needed to hide Dream. Taking the book out of the satchel, George laid the book open on a fresh page on the bench, setting Dream on top of it before giving Dream the pencil. 

“So.” George smiled. “What do you want to do?” 

‘I’m not sure. Some things have changed, but some things haven’t. I don’t know what’s still here or not. We could look in the square, I guess. I remember liking it there as a kid.’   
George nodded. “Okay, then let’s go to the square. That’s the place with the corkboard in the back, right?” Dream nodded. 

“Okay, sweet. Let’s go then.” Dream handed George the pencil, and George put Dream on his head before putting the book away. Getting up, George walked calmly to the square. There were people everywhere, shopping, walking, all sorts of stuff. 

“Just chirp if you see something interesting,” George said, walking up to a line of shops and passing by their stands and windows. Eventually, George heard the confident “Chirp!” From Dream.   
When George realized what stand he was at, however, he laughed. The sign was one for pastries and sweets, mainly centered around apples. 

“Come to think of it, I am hungry. What do you want, Dream?” Dream chirped four times in a row. The number four item was apple-cinnamon cookies. “The cookies?” George asked, to confirm. Dream chirped confidently, signaling yes. George smiled, happy that his friend was feeling even a bit better. After buying Dream two cookies and a muffin for himself, they found a public eating space with tables and sat down there, enjoying the fall breeze. George left the book and pencil out on the table next to Dream in case he wanted to say something other than a chirp, which he usually did. 

“Ya know, come to think of it…” George thought out loud. “We may need to get winter clothes for the road. We only really packed for fall chilly weather, not really rain or snow.” Dream nodded in agreement. “What did you do to stay warm during the winter when you lived with Tommy, Tubbo, and Wilbur?” George asked. 

‘They bundled me up in a scarf if it was snowing or something, but I actually don’t get cold that easy because I don’t have human skin. I don’t sweat, which is why heat is actually worse for me. That’s why I like cooler weather better.’ Dream wrote before taking another bite of his cookie. George laughed a little at the sight of Dream eating a cookie that was as tall as him. That gave George a good question. 

“Hey Dream, how tall are you?” George asked. “Tommy said you were four inches, but you look a little bigger than that.” Dream shrugged, or at least did a motion similar to shrugging.

“If we find a ruler, we should find out,” George suggested, smiling. Dream snickered. 

‘I bet when I’m human again, I'll be taller than you.’ 

“Bold words for someone who was cursed when they were a child,” George smirked. “You could be like, four feet tall.” 

‘I’ll have you know I was not four feet tall.’ 

“Really? How tall were you then?” George asked. 

‘I actually have no idea. But I know I wasn’t four feet tall!’ 

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see then, huh?” George laughed. The day out was good for Dream, and luckily, he didn’t see anybody else that he knew. After some more trading for emeralds then lightly spending some of those emeralds, it was around four pm when George and Dream came back to the Inn. Bad and Wilbur were already back, and were sitting on bunks chatting happily. In this particular inn, most of the bunks of the hotel were all in one huge shared room. This kind of sleeping quarters was cheaper, and that’s honestly what they needed right then. Sapnap, Tommy, and Tubbo came in soon after, and the group spent most of their night chatting quietly before heading to bed. Dream came up to Sapnap however, bonking him on the knee before he could get up. 

“What’s up, little dude?” Sapnap asked. Dream gestures to what he’s already written in his book for Sapnap. 

‘I need a favor.’ 

\------------------------------------------

Walking through the crowd, I laughed. I really, honestly laughed at just how stupid that group of boys was. I felt bad for them, to be honest. But that one guy, with the goggles. His hat was funnily familiar, I could feel it. What a strange hat he was wearing, too. Also, why the hell was he whispering about me to his friends? Bunch of creeps, that’s what they are. I don’t know why I even help people anymore. I decided to head home, I have homework anyway. 

I always worked better during the evenings, it was quiet and peaceful, gave me a clearer head to think in. I always hated schoolwork, but if there’s one thing worse than schoolwork, it was doing schoolwork in a noisy area or place. Sure, my house wasn’t as loud as it used to be, but you still the barking dogs and the yelling children outside in my neighborhood. The night’s like no other, peaceful and quiet, and now that is I can finally start-

“BANG BANG BANG!!!”

I spoke too soon. Sighing, I walk out of my room to the living room. Who would be knocking on the door at this hour? We don’t get mobs here, it can’t be a zombie. Mom and Dad are already asleep, so I knew I should go see who it was. Picking up my father’s sword, I carefully opened the front door, looking around for who it could be. But nobody was there.

“Huh?” I looked to my left, my right, up, then down. Laying at my feet was a hastily enveloped letter with words written on the back and presumably inside. I put the sword down inside before picking up the letter and shutting the door behind me. The envelope reads:

‘To my sister, mom, and dad.’ in messy handwriting. My breath caught in my throat. This had to be sent to the wrong house. I opened the envelope anyway, carefully opening the letter that sat inside. 

‘Dear Mom, Dad, and Drista,   
Hey! It’s me, Clay! I’m alive and okay! Well, sort of okay. I could be better. But it’s going to be okay. I hope. I don’t know what happened after that night, but I was somehow taken to the witch’s hideout and cursed. What happens after that is a long story, but I can tell you now that I’m traveling with a group of friends right now, and we’re going to try and cure me. But I don’t know how it’s going to go. I’m so close to coming home. I don’t want you to see me like this though. I know, I love you guys so much, I don’t want to be away any longer than I have to. Once I’m an actual human being again, I’m coming straight here. That is unless...well, there’s a deadline to my curse. If I’m not home by the next festival then...well, don’t expect me home as a person. I love you guys, and I miss you.   
P.S! Drista! You better not have dug through my stuff!!   
P.P.S! MOM, DAD, DO NOT GIVE THESE IDIOTS 5,000 EMERALDS OH MY GOD!  
P.P.P.S! Drista, I like the color red on you! You look powerful!   
See you soon!  
\- Clay

I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t function. Clay was alive. He was alive and somewhere out there, trying to get home. He was home! He was so close! He’s seen me today?! What?! I’m so confused! I can’t even- I look at the note again. There’s a derpy looking smile drawn under Clay’s name. That’s the smile from his mask...that’s where the hat looked familiar from! Clay’s festival mask! That wasn’t a hat! That was Clay!

“Sweetie, are you okay? Who was at the door?” My mom called softly from the hallway. Looking up at her with teary eyes, I smile, the widest I’ve smiled in years. 

“Mom, Clay is alive.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Theories, anyone?


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of this spam update! Thanks for bearing with me!

“So.” George started, looking at everybody around him. They were all seated around a table in the square, towards the back so as to not grab much attention. The cool afternoon autumn air was refreshing, giving the group clear heads to think in. “Let’s talk about this calmly so we don’t cause a scene.” George looked to Sapnap and Bad directly, who both avoided eye contact from George. Tommy snickered. “How are we going to approach the witches? Bad, I know there’s your idea, we could talk more about that, but I want to hear other ideas too.” 

“Well, we could disguise ourselves as witches and sneak in,” Tubbo suggested. “If we ask why we’re there, we can make up some cover story about how we’re witches who travel around the world and want to learn magic from all sorts of witches.” 

“I dunno about that.” Wilbur frowned. “If we get caught, we're cursed, or even worse, dead.” 

“Well if I go in, I can’t get cursed twice. I’ll go in with some milk for potions that could splash on me and I’ll use the cover story to get in.” Bad suggested, referencing his original plan. 

“You have to at least have some backup.” Sapnap insisted. “You cannot go in there alone, and even if Dream wanted to go in there again, no offense to you Dream, but he can’t exactly pack a punch.” 

“We could ask somebody else who’s cursed and pay them?” Tommy suggested, almost questioning the idea entirely. 

“Do we know anybody else who’s cursed?” George asked. 

“Well, we know someone, but…” Wilbur trailed off. 

“Who?” Sapnap asked. Tommy’s eyes lit up, realizing who Wilbur was referencing. 

“THE BLADE!!” Tommy cheered. Tubbo smiled as well. 

“Oh yeah! Techno’s cursed! Could we ask him?” Tubbo mentioned.

“You guys seem to forget that Techno lives in the middle of the desert that we just escaped, hundreds of chunks from here.” Wilbur reminded. 

“It could be worth it…” Sapnap mumbled. “I don’t want my best friend going into a hell zone alone.” 

“Aw, I love you too Sapnap!” Bad laughed, patting his friend on the back. 

“Shut up.” Sapnap glared, causing the entire group to collectively laugh. Once the laughter died down, they got serious again.

“Look, even if we walked all the way to Techno’s place in the middle of nowhere, we don’t know if he’d agree to do this. He’s not that interested in money, and he’s not that fond of witches either.” Wilbur sighed. 

“Well, there’s no harm in asking, right?” Tubbo said. “Besides, I know Techno and Phil miss Dream, I’m sure they’d both want to help.” 

“Dream knows these people?” George asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Yeah,” Tommy answered. “You remember how I said we don’t know what he was doing the first year as a blob? Well, the next two years were spent living with Techno and Philza, really close friends of ours. But some complications happened, so Dream moved in with us.” 

“What complications?” Bad asked. 

“The desert’s one of the most dangerous places to live. Very little resources, lots of monsters, husks, and the horrid heat.” Wilbur explained. “Dream was kept inside for a whole year because of said dangers and was just miserable. So Techno and Phil had him live with us. He’s been here, stealing the cookies ever since.” Wilbur smirked, looking to Dream, who was sitting on his book with a pencil already in hand.   
‘It’s not my fault Tubbo’s cookies are the tastiest thing the world has to offer.’ Dream wrote. 

“I have an idea.” George proposed. “So, what if we split into two groups? Half of us stay here, learn everything we can about witches, what they dress like, how they talk to each other, stuff like that, while the other half goes to talk to Technoblade. Either way, we come back here and make the final decision together. Even if we don’t get Techno on our side, I’m sure with that span of time, we could figure out a backup plan.” 

The group thought over this individually, leaving the table in silence. It seemed like a good idea, except for one thing. 

“That trip to Techno’s and back will take two weeks,” Wilbur mentioned. “Maybe more. If we’re doing it, we’d have to commit to that plan. I know ten months seems like a long time, but it’s not.” 

“I think it’d be worth it.” Tubbo chimed. “Even if we don’t get Techno on our side, the time the other half of the group spends here learning will be critical. And if we do get Techno on our side, that means we have one of the strongest people on the planet to have Bad’s back.” 

“So, is it decided?” Bad asked, looking around. Everybody shared a collective nod, even Dream. 

“Then that just leaves who goes to the desert and who stays here,” Sapnap says, sitting up straighter in his chair. 

“I’ll go to the desert.” Wilbur nods. “I know the way there by heart.” 

“I want to go to the desert, it’s been too long since I’ve seen Techno. Maybe he’ll give me something cool for stabbing things!” Tommy grinned, bouncing in his seat. 

“I actually want to stay here.” Tubbo quipped. “My ankle’s still kinda messed up, and I hate the desert.” 

“I’m going to stay here too.” Bad smiled. “I want to learn as much as I can before I go in there.” 

“I think I’m gonna go for a desert adventure, sounds cool enough. I want to meet this Techno guy.” Sapnap smirks. 

“Then I’ll stay here as well.” George finished. “That way the groups are even.” 

“What about you, Dream?” Bad asked the blob. The table was silent as Dream wrote his response. 

‘I’ll stay here. I don’t want to be a liability in the desert. Also, the desert sucks.’ Wilbur chuckled. 

Wilbur chuckled. “Alright, then it’s settled. When should we leave?” 

“Use today to get ready,” Bad advised. “Then leave maybe tomorrow?” 

“Alright.” Tommy smiled. The group split up in two, half getting prepared for their journey through the desert, the others staying at the table, figuring out who they should ask questions and where they could study. 

“HEY! WEIRDOS!” A familiar voice shouted, a familiar face running towards the table where Dream, George, Bad, and Tubbo sat. Dream began to freak out, hopping off the table and painfully landing face first onto the bench seat. The one and only Drista herself hopped up to the table, taking a moment to catch her breath. 

“Oh hey, uh, Drista, right?” George smiled awkwardly. 

“Yeah, whatever, I know it was you, where’s my brother?” Drista demanded, her sharp green eyes piercing into George’s soul. 

“What-” 

“The letter! A letter showed up at my door last night, from my brother, saying he was alive, and I know he’s with you!” Drista pointed a knowing finger at George. 

“Woah Woah, let’s calm down,” Bad suggested, putting his hands out to try and defuse the situation. Drista sat down across from Bad, glaring at George. Dream was shaking on the bench, sitting next to George, unsure how to emotionally process what was happening. Drista eyed the book sitting next to George on the table, Dream’s words still sprawled out across the page. 

“That’s the same handwriting as the writing in the letter.” Drista nodded to the book. “Who writes in that?” 

“Dream does,” Bad answered honestly. Dream looked up from where he was to Bad, shaking his head ‘no’ frantically. Bad ignored Dream, however. “Dream, you really think that’s gonna work?” Bad looked to Dream with a sad look in his eyes. “Come say hello.” 

Dream sighed, Drista raised an eyebrow. “Who the hell is Dream?” Drista asked. Bad picked up a reluctant and scared Dream, who was shaking and on the verge of tears. 

Once set on the table, Dream looked up slowly, making eye contact with his sister for the first time in five years. Dead silence in the group. Drista didn’t know what to say. Was this really Clay? Her brother that she’s been looking for for years? Dream shuffled over to the open book, picking up his pencil and shakily putting it against the page. 

‘Hey, sis.’ Dream backed away from what he wrote and looked to Drista nervously. Drista read it fifty times, unable to take her eyes away from it for a hot minute. 

“Clay.” Drista whispered. “Is that really you?” 

‘Not exactly what you expected, huh?’ Dream smiled, more than just his derpy smile, nervousness beginning to fade and pure unadulterated joy began swelling instead. Bad smiled fondly, making eye contact with George for a moment before watching the scene before him respectfully. 

“Happy reunion!” George cheered awkwardly, shaking it out with jazz hands. Drista picked Dream up out of nowhere, and hugged her blob brother, said blob letting out a chirp in surprise. Tears began to flow from Drista’s eyes, her face contorted in a big smile, and after a moment, set Dream back down on the table, wiping her face. It was then revealed Dream was also happily crying. 

“I’m sorry, it’s just-” 

“No no, you’re perfectly fine,” Bad reassured, giving Drista a comforting smile. Drista calmed herself down, taking a deep breath and looking to Bad, Tubbo, and George. Tubbo had been quiet this whole time, thinking of what it must’ve been like. He’s been the missing one, he doesn’t quite know what it’s like to think that the person you love the most is gone, only to be returned. It gave Tubbo a more humble perspective on life.

“I have...so many questions,” Drista said exasperatedly. 

“We’ll do our best to answer them.” Tubbo finally spoke, smiling. Drista sat there for hours, asking questions and catching up with Dream. 

“Clay, why do they call you Dream? Is it like a nickname, or…?” Drista asked at one point. 

Especially after my first year of being cursed, I didn’t feel like Clay anymore. I wasn’t myself. I didn’t know who I was. So I let Techno and Phil give me a name. Techno said I looked like something out of a little kid’s dream, so Phil thought Dream would be a cool name. I’ve just gone with it ever since. 

“Huh. Well, I’m still calling you Clay, so suck it.” Drista teased, taking off any weight the answer to the question with humor. Dream snickered. 

‘I had a feeling you’d say that.’ 

“Why didn’t you just come home? After you were cursed, or just last night?” Drista asked after a moment, sadness silver lining her tone. 

‘I wanted to go home. But being this small makes it difficult to figure out where I am. I got super lost. Then yesterday, I dunno, I just didn’t want you guys to see me like this. I’m pathetic. I can’t go anywhere by myself, I can’t defend myself, hell I can barely stand up by myself when I fall over. It sucks. I didn’t want you guys to deal with that.’ 

“Aw, Clay…” Drista frowned, patting her brother on the head gently to comfort him. Dream grabbed onto her hand playfully, clinging on with all his might. “Clay, dude-” Drista chuckled, shaking her hand lightly, but Dream still hung on with all his might. Tubbo laughed, wishing he could capture this moment in time. Eventually, Dream did let go. 

‘Please don’t tell mom and dad I’m here. I know you’ve probably shown them the letter, but don’t tell them that i’m around the town. I’ll be home soon. I really don’t want them seeing me like this.’ 

“Okay...I won’t, but didn’t you mention a deadline in the letter?” Drista asked worriedly. Dream looked to Tubbo, silently asking him to say it for him. Tubbo frowned a little. 

“Dream’s curse’s deadline is by his birthday. If he’s not better by then, he’ll turn into a little clay statue. And we don’t know if we can change him back if that happens.” Tubbo explained disheartenedly.   
“What can I do to help?” Drista asked, her face filling with determination. Dream shook his head. 

‘I don’t want you getting involved. I was already messed up by witches, I’d never forgive myself if you got hurt.’ 

“Clay, if it wasn’t for you, I’d probably be the blob sitting sadly on the table. It’s the least I can do. Also, I dug through your room, so I’ve gotta replace some of the stuff I stole by helping you get better.”   
‘How would curing me replace my stuff?’ 

“Because I wouldn’t owe you anything, saving your ass should pay for it,” Drista smirked. Dream shook his head. 

“How about this.” Bad offered. “Drista, do you know anybody who could know things about witches?” 

“Well, there’s the clerics, specifically Dazeem.” Drista started. “I heard Dazeem has an assistant, though she tends to keep to herself, so nobody really knows much about her. There’s also the Library, it’s got plenty of books about that stuff.” Drista listed. 

“That’s super helpful, thank you.” Tubbo smiled. Eventually, Drista had to go home, and since the sun had begun to set from late afternoon to evening, George, Tubbo, Dream, and Bad all headed back to the inn. Dream wanted to be mad at Bad for exposing him to his sister, but he couldn’t. Seeing Drista and talking to her for the first time in years gave Dream hope. Hope that he’d be human again, hope he could talk to his friends with real words. Hope that walking could be so much easier. Hope that he'll be tall again. And that hope swelled and burst at the seams as Dream’s smile continued to stay genuine all the way back to the inn. Upon entering, they met back up with Wilbur, Sapnap, and Tommy. That night they talked about the journey ahead and what they planned to do. After eating dinner together and talking even more, the group began to head to bed early, mostly for the desert crew’s journey. 

“Hey, Tommy, can I talk to you?” Tubbo asked, pulling on Tommy’s sleeve. 

“Sure, Tubbs, what’s up?” Tommy asked. Tubbo led Tommy to a more private corner of the room. 

“Tommy please be safe in the desert. I know Wilbur’s super good with a sword and Sapnap’s a good fighter and I know you can take care of yourself but-” 

“Tubbo.” Tommy interrupted, smiling. 

“Yeah?” 

“There’s nothing that can kill Tommy. I’m indestructible. Hell, I even traveled for two days on my own. I’ll be safe, I promise.” Tommy put a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulders. 

“Pinkie promise?” Tubbo asked, holding up his pinkie finger. Tommy chuckled, securing the pinkie promise. 

“Pinkie promise.” He confirmed. “Brother’s honor.” 

“Good, now you can’t break it.” Tubbo smiled confidently, as if proud of himself. The boys headed to bed and dreamed of all sorts of fantasies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Theories? I love to hear em'! Also, this chapter's shorter because the next few are going to be longer


	8. Research

The group woke early to say their goodbyes. It would be a hot minute before they’d see each other again. 

“Don’t forget your pinkie promise, or I swear to god.” Tubbo laughed nervously at his brother. 

“Couldn’t forget it if I tried, Tubbs.” Tommy reassured, nudging Tubbo’s arm lightly. “I’ll be back before you know it!” 

“Y’all better hug me before leaving.” Tubbo huffed, looking at Wilbur, Tommy, and even Sapnap. Wilbur chuckled. 

“Wouldn’t miss a Tubbo hug for the world,” Wilbur said. 

“Ooh, can I have a hug too?” Bad asked. 

“Sure!” Tubbo immediately got up and hugged Bad. Turns out, the two best huggers on the face of the earth hugging each other was incredibly comfortable, because neither let go for a hot minute. 

“Tubbo, Bad’s staying here with you, he’s not going to disappear into thin air if you let him go.” Sapnap chuckled, getting his armor ready. 

“He’s so comfy.” Bad simply stated. 

“This cannot be legal,” Tubbo said, refusing to let go of Bad. 

“I’ve only known Tubbo for a few days, but if anything happened to him I’d kill everybody in the room.” Bad threatened, half-serious. Tubbo chuckled. 

“Why are you so comfy though??” Tubbo asked.

“Pillow plus pillow equals double comfy.” George yawned. “Speaking of pillows, can I go back to bed? It’s so early.” 

“Awe, George, aren’t you gonna miss me when I leave?” Sapnap asked in a baby tone. 

“No, you suck,” George grumbled, rubbing his right eye with his hand sleepily.

“You hurt me, George,” Sapnap said overdramatically, putting his wrist on his forehead for emphasis. The group ate breakfast together before the trio got ready to leave. 

Tubbo pulled Wilbur, Tommy, and Sapnap into a tight hug. Sapnap was a little shocked but joined in the group hug anyway. “You guys better be safe,” Tubbo muttered. 

“We’ll be back before you know it, Tubbo. It’s just a few weeks.” Wilbur comforted his little brother. Bad joined in the group hug, which led to George hopping in on the group hug too. 

There was a screech from the nearby window sill, then a soft thump.

“Dream?” George asked, chuckling as the blob climbed determinedly up Tommy’s shirt and into the center of the group hug, using his blobby hands to clutch onto Tommy’s shoulder. Dream had successfully launched himself into the group hug. 

“Yes, big man!” Tommy laughed, smiling. After a sad goodbye from each and a ‘good luck’ from Bad, they watched as Tommy, Wilbur, and Sapnap set off to the desert. Once they rounded the corner of the street, Tubbo looked up to Bad, Dream, and George, (the previously mentioned blob was now resting between Bad’s horns). 

“What are we going to do now?” Tubbo asked, shuffling his injured ankle on the ground. 

“Well…” Bad started. “We could go talk to Dazeem. I’m curious about his assistant, I wonder if she knows anything?” 

“Here’s an idea.” George perked. “One of us goes to the Library, one of us goes to Dazeem, then one of us finds out about this assistant lady.” 

“That could work…” Tubbo nodded. Dream chirped, seeming to like the idea. It meant they got more done sooner, right? 

“Well, if that’s what you guys want to do, I call dibs on not going to the Library.” Bad chuckled. “I want to hear from Dazeem.”  
“I’ll go to the Library.” Tubbo offered. “I love reading.” 

“Then I’ll ask the assistant lady what she knows.” George finalized. “Let’s meet back here later this afternoon and report back what we found.” 

“I’m going to go back inside real quick, you two go ahead.” Bad smiled. “I want to think over some things.” 

“You alright?” George asked, a little concerned. 

“I’m good, I just need a minute.” Bad smiled reassuringly. 

“Okay, if you say so…” Tubbo bit his cheek. 

“Do you want me to take Dream?” George asked. 

“It’s okay, I'll only be a minute, promise. Dream can stay with me.”

“See you at Dazeem’s place, Bad.” George said, walking off into town with Tubbo. Bad walked back into the inn, heading to the bathroom. Opening the door to the public restroom, Bad let out a sigh of relief when he saw nobody there. Standing in front of the mirror, Bad slid off his hood, set Dream down on the sink’s counter, and inspected himself. He did this every once in a while when he wanted to think, and rarely did anything change. His skin was still deep ebony black, his eyes still glowy-white with no pupil. His demonic reddish-black horns still rest upon his head of raven black hair, his teeth were still oddly sharp in some spots, and he was still cursed. He considered himself lucky, even though his curse had no cure. His curse didn’t have a deadline, and his only downsides were his drastic change in appearance and hypersensitive hearing. 

But all this talk about cures to curses got him thinking again. What could he have done to prevent his own curse? Sure, it was pointless thinking about it, but it was a fantasy Bad liked to think about from time to time. His parents used to say he was a gift from some higher power, like angels, but the sad irony was that he looked like a demon instead, despite not having a bad bone in his body. Dream chirped curiously, looking up at his friend with a semi-worried expression. Well, as worried as you can look with your face forced into a smile. 

“I’m alright, Dream. Just needed some quiet for a moment.” Bad smiled. Dream chirped again, but his tone was unclear.  
Shaking his head and splashing his face lightly with water, Bad adjusted his checkered scarf, put his hood back over his head. As usual, the horns stuck out the front and his bangs had to be adjusted around his eyes. Taking a deep breath and putting a smile on his face, Bad felt refreshed and was ready to head to Dazeem’s place.

George split up with Tubbo as he walked into the cleric’s building, familiar cobblestone walls and stained glass windows surrounding him. “Dazeem, are you here?” George called out into the eerily empty building. 

“Hello again, traveler.” Dazeem came into view, his face stoic and calm as it was when he was last here. “How may I help you today?” 

“My friends and I are researching witches and curses. My friend Bad is going to come and ask you about some things, but out of curiosity, I heard you had an assistant? What does she specialize in?” George asked as respectfully as he could. 

“Ah yes, young Nihachu,” Dazeem confirmed. “She doesn’t come here most days, she only really leaves her home when she needs personal tutoring. She is, however, very educated about witches and such. If you want to speak to her, I can give you her address. As long as you use it respectfully.”

“Of course, please, I’d love to speak with her. Professionally.” George added, trying not to sound like he was just trying to get her address because she may or may not be a cute girl. George wasn’t that interested in romantic relationships or any of that sort of thing, he just wanted to help his friend. Dazeem nodded. 

“I trust you. Do you have a map?” Dazeem asked. 

“I do.” George nodded, pulling out his map from his bag. Dazeem marked a dot on the page. Her house was barely considered to be within the SMP, isolated on the border of a dark oak forest, just a few miles away south-west of the witch hideout. George thanked Dazeem, and headed out, passing Bad outside. 

“Good luck.” Bad smiled, Dream chirping happily in agreement to Bad.

“You too.” George chuckled, making his way through the town towards Niachu’s abode. It was a very long walk, just past the north outskirts of town, you could see the border of Dark trees. Walking straight up to the border and following it, there was finally an abandoned pillager tower, that looked much less menacing with flowering vines crawling up it. Connected to the tower was a cottage, the entire front yard, and surrounding area looked like a fairy had laid their blessing here, flowers and plants making the area lush with life. George smiled at the sight of the repurposed tower and home, he felt way calmer here than he did out in the open. Walking up to the cottage’s porch, he knocked on the door. 

“Hello? Anybody home?” George called out. There was a crash and a startled yelp, and a few seconds later a shy face peeked out the door. She had brown hair with blonde highlights, wire glasses similar to Wilbur’s, rosy cheeks, and pale skin. She was wearing a white blouse with embroidered flowers on the sleeves and light blue jeans, black boots covered her feet. 

“Hello? Can I help you?” The girl had an incredibly soft voice. 

“Hello, are you Nihachu? I want to ask her some questions if that’s okay.” 

“Call me Nikki. Come in, come in.” Nihachu opened the door politely, letting George in. The house was cozy, fit for one or two people, and had a white-with-flower-pattern aesthetic to it. She seemed to like the colors baby-pink and golden-yellow because her house was covered in said colors. It didn’t really look like pink to George, it was more of a greyish, but it looked pretty nonetheless. There were two pink comfy chairs in the living space, a glass coffee table between them.

“So, what’s your name?” Nikki asked, gesturing to a chair for George to sit on.

“George,” George replied simply. 

“So, George, Uhm, would you like some tea?” Nikki asked. 

“I’m okay, thank you,” George replied politely. Nikki nodded, sitting in the other chair across from him. 

“What did you want to ask me?” 

“I heard from Dazeem you are very wise in the knowledge of witches?”

“Oh, yeah.” Nikki’s face fell a little. 

“If witches are a sensitive topic for you-” 

“No no, it’s not that,” Nikki reassured. “I just...don’t agree with some things on witches.” 

“Like what?”

“Why are you asking me about witches?” Nikki asked, changing the subject. “I don’t exactly know you.” 

“Right, sorry,” George mumbled. “My friend is cursed, and his deadline’s coming up in ten months. We’re trying to find the witch that cursed him so we can cure him. We’re going to try and sneak into their base, possibly using disguises or something, and we want to know everything we can know so we have the best possible advantage. Dazeem said you know about witch stuff, so I’m here. I apologize for being rude.” 

“It’s okay.” Nikki smiled. “Well, now that I understand the situation, I can help you a lot more now. What kind of curse does your friend have?” 

“What do you mean?” George asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Is his physical form different, did it wipe his memories, did it debilitate him, give him back luck that progressively gets worse, like that. Nikki clarified. 

“Well…” George thought about the best way to explain this. “He was a human, but he was cursed to be a four-inch maybe more blob thing that can’t speak and slowly turns more and more into a statue as time goes on.” 

Nikki blinked a few times. “That...is quite the interesting curse.” 

“Tell me about it,” George mumbled. 

“When is his deadline?” 

“August 12th.” 

“And where is your friend now?” 

“With my other friend, Bad, asking Dazeem questions.” 

“I see.” There was silence in the cottage, the chirping of birds passing by the window the only sound to be heard. “So, you’re going to sneak in. You want to learn about witches so you don’t get caught. You’re going to try and find the one witch out of possibly hundreds and interrogate her about the cure to your friend’s curse, and get out without a hitch?” Nikki raised an eyebrow skeptically. 

“Well, when you put it like that…” George said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“I can help you find which witch cursed your friend, and I can help you sneak in.” But whether or not your quest is successful is up to you.” Niki warned. George nodded. 

“I understand.” 

“So, let’s get this out of the way.” Nikki sighed. “I am a witch, I can perform magic. What a lot of people don’t understand is that not all witches are bad, there is a small minority of us who don’t like the other witches. I didn’t agree with all the violence and fighting, so I left my coven as a small child.” 

“I...Did not know that.” George said, shocked. 

“Hardly anyone does,” Nikki replied solemnly. “But, using magic, I can access your friend’s memories. With his consent, of course. I can find out the witch who cursed him and relay that information to you and your group. Once I know who the witch is, I can tell you guys where she may be residing, her rank, and maybe even her specialty of magic.” Nikki explains. 

“That’s more helpful than I ever could have asked for, you’re too kind.” George smiled. 

“It’s no problem, really. I’ve helped a lot of people with curses, though I’ve never helped cure anyone. If they don’t have the cure to the curse there, but they have the recipe, I can make or perform the cure here. Whoever cursed him is not going to want to be the one to undo her work.” 

“What do you mean by ‘her work’?” George asked curiously. 

“Witches see their curses as works of art,” Nikki explained. “They’re hard to perform, they take time and effort to perfect, and they often morph somebody into something completely different. The witches think that each cursed person is a masterpiece of some kind, often objectifying people. It’s horrible.” 

“Damn.” George frowned. 

“Yeah…” There was a pause. An awkward silence came back to hang around the room. “How about this. Tomorrow, bring your friends here, including uh, the cursed one. We’ll talk together there.” Nikki suggested. 

“Sounds like a plan. What time…?” George asks. 

“How about noon?” Nikki suggests, smiling. 

“Noon should be good,” George confirmed. 

“Alright, then I’ll see you then. I was about to make lunch, do you want a sandwich? You’ve must’ve walked for quite a while to get here.” Nikki offered. George was about to say no, but fate willed him to stay, making his stomach growl loudly just as George opened his mouth. Nikki laughed as George chuckled sheepishly. 

“I guess I could go for some food.” 

\--------------

After passing George by, Bad headed inside the cleric’s cobblestone castle-building, Dream patiently sitting between his horns. Upon entering, Dazeem was already waiting there for them. 

“Hello, Dazeem.” Bad waved politely, Dream chirping in unison. 

“Hello, lost ones. Your friend told me of your incoming visit.” Dazeem greeted approaching Bad and Dream. 

“Oh, did he?” Bad smiled. 

“Indeed.” Dazeem smiled politely back, the first smile that Bad’s seen out of this man. Dream has seen Dazeem smile before, he thinks, but it was so long ago, and Dazeem was a lot different now. The once energetic middle-aged man was now more stoic and grey. Dream wondered what happened to Dazeem over the last five years that had changed him. 

“So, I wanted to ask you some questions…” Bad began. 

“Of course. Come, sit, let’s talk here.” Dazeem sat down on a bench, motioning for Bad to sit down with him. Bad sat down as told. 

“Thank you.” Bad smiled. 

“Don’t thank me yet. Now, what did you want to ask me?” Dazeem asked. 

“I wanted to ask you what you know about witches.” Bad started. “Literally anything you know about them.” 

“Hm, well…” Dazeem scratched his chin in thought. “I don’t know much about witch culture and such, but I do know more about science and technical terms, along with alchemy. Mostly alchemy.” 

“Sounds great.” Bad encouraged. 

“The official definition of a ‘Witch’ is a person who can perform magic. They’re not necessarily good or bad, despite the majority of them having an antagonistic point of view.” Dazeem explained. “Though I don’t know much about it, I do know witch culture is brutal. Those who can’t handle it don’t survive or abandon their covens, or “Clans” as we sometimes call them.” 

“Can anybody be a witch?” Bad asked. 

“No. Magic is a biological phenomenon that not even the wisest of clerics can explain. The first witches were struck by lighting, according to legend, but that’s not how it’s done nowadays.” Dazeem clarified. “It’s a genetic flaw at this point, there’s a higher chance of you getting the magic gene if your parents are witches, but your chances of getting magic even with normal parents are never zero.” 

“That’s...interesting.” Bad pondered. Dream chirped in agreement.

“Indeed. There are some books on the hypotheticals of witch biology, but nothing 100% proven accurate to date.” Dazeem sighed. “But, something I personally know by heart is witch science!” Dazeem exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.

“Witch science?” Bad laughed, shocked by Dazeem’s sudden excitement. The man kept a calm monotone persona, watching him get very excited over science was amusing, to say the least. This was more of the Dazeem Dream was used to hearing. 

“Yes! Potions and brewing, that stuff.” Dazeem settled, regaining his composure as if nothing happened. Bad and Dazeem spent the next several hours just talking about potions, their multiple uses, types, and variants. Bad was very, very intrigued.  
\-----------------------------------  
Tubbo entered the Library, signed up for a card, and immediately began looking for interesting books to read. The cards were made from small pieces of carved wood, so Tubbo would have to wait an hour or so to actually get the card, but was allowed to look through and check out books until then. The peace and quiet of the library was relaxing, letting Tubbo think clearly as he searched through titles and subjects, fiction and nonfiction. A particular book caught his eye, with a black cover and gold lettering that read ‘A World of Curses and Blessings.’ Tubbo picked the book off the shelf, flipping through its pages and scanning through some paragraphs. It seemed to be a book detailing how curses and blessings work, with definitions, explanations, studies, and interviews. Tubbo smiled curiously and found a place to sit down and read. Settling for an empty table with wooden chairs, Tubbo opened it up to the first chapter, reading through each paragraph. 

‘What are Curses and Blessings?’ 

‘A curse by definition is ‘a drastic deformity or change in one or many person’s mental, spiritual, or physical form caused by the intricate magic of a witch.’ Curses can take hundreds of forms, from eternal bad luck to being turned into a dog. From getting your face twisted for a week or your life being cut short by a deadline. Some of the most common types of curses are presumably the easiest to perform, such as turning certain body parts into animal parts or the physical twisting of the human body. Curses are usually harmful to one’s self, but there are occasional advantages. 

No one really knows why Witches perform curses. Is it for fun? Some kind of show of power or dominance? Maybe it's a way Witches celebrate victories. Whatever the reason is, it is considered wrong and immoral to curse someone here in our own world, but the Witches do not seem to care. 

A Witch, by definition, is ‘a person that is born with the biological mystery that is magic.’ Nobody knows what magic truly is, other than it seems to be mostly genetic. The magic gene seems to be a dominant trait among Witches, and a recessive trait among non-magic humans. It is very rare for a non-magic couple to have a witch baby, though it is not unheard of. Witches band together in clans or covens, which can reign from ten to a thousand witches depending on the area. Not much is known about witch culture, however, only that it is a hard way to grow up. 

A blessing, by definition, is ‘The phenomenon of someone, presumably born, with a special ability or physical enhancement without the genetic trait of magic or debilitating nature of a curse earned by a special deed’. There are hardly any cases to go off of for people with blessings, for they’re often mistaken for witches or of being cursed. People with blessings are often similar to people with basic curses, such as animal body parts or slight physical abnormalities, but these often give the blessed person a huge advantage or ability in one way or another. Blessings such as wings, enhanced strength, enhanced speed, enhanced hearing, and increased acrobatic abilities have been found within the small blessed community. Blessings have been argued to be born with their blessings, only able to access them after doing a great deed, others argue that everyone is already blessed, and only a few can earn theirs. But, since there is little to go off of, we may never know for sure. 

Tubbo was deep in the book, fascinated by all the stories of people who’d been cursed before and how they’d either been cured or learned to deal with the curses. Soon hours had passed by and Tubbo figured he should head back to the inn. He figured since he’d already almost finished the book he was reading, he grabbed another book about an interview with a captured witch. Picking up his card and checking out his books at the front, thanking the kind Librarian and heading off on his way. Realizing he was late, he ran back to the inn with his books clutched to his chest, only slowing down once he’d reached the inn’s front.  
Stepping inside and heading to the bunk room, he found Bad and George talking, each sitting across from each other on their bunks. Bad heard him come in, turning his head quickly and smiling when he saw Tubbo. 

“Thank goodness.” Bad sighed. “I was starting to get worried.” Dream chirped happily, still sitting on Bad’s head. 

“Sorry!” Tubbo said, setting his books down on his bed and sitting down. “The book I was reading was so interesting, I must’ve lost track of time.” 

“Ooh, what’cha been reading?” George asked curiously. Tubbo picked up the book about curses and blessings excitedly. 

“It’s about how curses and blessings work and has interviews of people who’ve been cursed, and even how some of them were cured! It’s very interesting.” Tubbo explained with a grin. 

“What’s a blessing?” George asked curiously. 

“They’re like, the opposite of curses, right?” Bad questions. 

“Sort of. It’s complicated.” Tubbo laughed. The group discussed what they learned that day, what they would be doing tomorrow, and where they should focus their attention going forward. George explained Nihachu and her affiliation with magic.

“So that Nihachu girl,” George mentioned. “She wants us to take Dream to her place tomorrow so she can figure out which witch cursed him. She says she can use magic to look through your memory, Dream, but she won’t do it without your permission.” George looked to Dream. “What do you think?” 

Dream was taken off of Bad’s head and set down on the carpet below, Bad and Tubbo both scooting off their beds so they could sit by Dream. They got out his book and watched as Dream scribbled down his answer. 

‘I dunno. Those memories aren’t exactly ones I would love to share with a stranger, but it’s probably better than being a statue my whole life. Also, I need to know if I’m taller than George, so for that, I’ll suck it up.’ 

“So, that’s a yes?” Bad asked. 

“I’m average height, I bet I’m taller than you,” George grumbled, crossing his arms. Tubbo, Bad, and Dream laughed, even getting a wheeze out of Dream. 

‘Fine, I’ll do it.’ 

“Awesome, Dream. We’ll be with ya the whole way through.” Tubbo smiled, Dream looking back up at him gratefully. 

‘Thank you.’ 

“When did she want us to meet?” Bad asked. 

“Noon tomorrow,” George answered with a nod.

“Sounds good to me,” Tubbo said. The four went to bed that night with a lot on their minds. Tubbo perhaps the most thoughtful of all. He found himself missing his brothers dearly. Having his brothers near him was usually his biggest comfort, he never got homesick because he felt right at home wherever his brothers were. No home was a good home for Tubbo without Tommy’s stupid jokes or Wilbur’s funny songs. But thinking about being homesick has got him thinking about home. His physical homes. Both of them. He’s had to flee from both in sheer terror. He absolutely hated the feeling that he was always running for his life. Tubbo hopes with all his heart that they can go back to their taiga village someday, after all of this. Eventually, sleep took hold of Tubbo and dreams began to form in his mind. 

It was only a solid few hours of sleep before Tubbo shot up from his bed in a cold sweat. Covering his mouth, he held back a scared sob, putting his hands over his mouth to silence himself. He had a feeling another nightmare would come to haunt him as soon as he felt alone, but he was really hoping he’d beat the odds. Taking in a shaky breath, flashes of the twisted memories that had turned into a terrifying nightmare plaguing Tubbo’s mind. He knew Bad’s hearing was particularly sensitive and he didn’t want to wake him up, so as quietly as he could, Tubbo tiptoed outside the bunk room. Once out of the bunk room, Tubbo went through the lobby then finally outside. Leaning against the wall, Tubbo hugged himself, looking to the stars. The peace and quiet was calming, allowing Tubbo to let tears fall down his cheeks freely without judgment.

“Tubbo?” 

Tubbo startled, jumping at the sudden disruption of the quiet. To his left was Bad himself, the very person he was trying not to wake up. 

“O-Oh, hey,” Tubbo said, quickly wiping the front of his face to try and hide the tears to no use.

“Are you okay?” The demon asked, putting a hand on Tubbo’s shoulder. A thousand images flashed through Tubbo’s mind as he flinched away from Bad’s touch. 

“F-fine.” Tubbo stammered. Bad frowned, not buying it for a second as he gently pulled his hand away. 

“I don’t think that’s true.” Bad insisted. “Here, sit down.” Bad sat down on the cobblestone front of the inn, gesturing for Tubbo to sit next to him. Tubbo did as told, sniffling as he wiped more tears from his face. The two sat in silence for a few minutes, taking in the chilly fall air. It was late in the fall, the breeze quickly sending chills down their spines, but neither person moved either way. 

“I’m sorry I woke you up,” Tubbo said finally, not looking at Bad, instead preferring the floor to be more appealing. 

“No no, it’s okay,” Bad reassured. “You could be quieter than owl wings and it’d still keep me up, it’s not your fault. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” 

“Thank you.” Tubbo smiled shyly. 

“Anytime, Kiddo. Did you have a nightmare?” Bad asked gently. Tubbo’s smile dropped. 

“Yeah,” Tubbo whispered, voice cracking at the memory. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Bad asked.

“Not...not really,” Tubbo admitted. 

“That’s alright, you don’t have to. How about we steal one of Dream’s cookies? I’ll buy him some more later, I’m sure he won’t mind.” Bad suggested, smiling comfortingly. Tubbo’s smile returned to his face. 

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any theories in the chat? :D
> 
> What do you think's up with Tubbo's past?


	9. Why I haven’t been posting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IM SORRY LET ME EXPLAIN

Y’ALL SO ITS BEEN A HOT MINUTE HUH

I KNOW A LOT OF YA WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO NEW CHAPS

WELL I HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS

IF YOU LOOK ON WATTPAD, THIS FIC IS CURRENTLY ON CHAPTER 26 AS OF POSTING THIS UPDATE

Im @Chaotomatic on wattpad, the fic’s under the same name, and you dont need an account to read it. Literally just punch in “Dream is a Blob” into google it should be the first thing that pops up :)

I do warn you though, the plot gets a bit angsty

I haven't been posting on Ao3 because I don't have access to my personal Laptop right now, I only have access to my School provided chromebook. Which Firewalls AO3, but not Wattpad. SO, for now, only Wattpad updates will be available, but when I get my personal laptop back, I’ll put all the chapters here too, dont worry! 

TLDR: Check Wattpad for new updates for this fic :)


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